Damaged (A Marauders Era story)
by A.M. Ashwin
Summary: A girl who is different. Damaged. Alexa was tortured by death eaters at 8 years old, leaving her damaged both physically and mentally. She was sent to live with her Aunt. Now, three years later, she will attend Hogwarts. With a magical wooden leg, and a cold, red-colored eye that sees the world differently. She has abilities she doesn't even begin to understand. Alexa doesn't fit i
1. First Year, Part 1 (The Train Ride)

**_Prologue_** :  
"Alexa! Hide!" Mommy whispered urgently to me, as she shoved me roughly under the bed.  
The door to the room was kicked open, and I could see Mommy's feet being lifted of the ground.

"Traitor" a scratchy voice said.

There was an explosion, and Mommy fell to the floor. She lay limp, her blank eyes facing me.  
I whimpered, tears rolling down my cheeks.  
I saw someone's feet start to walk toward the bed, slowly.  
"Alexa?" The scratchy voice said, as if it were inside her head. "Come out."  
When I didn't move, the bed was levitated up into the air, and I stared up into the face of evil.  
Voldemort.  
A twisted smile formed on his grey face, and he pointed his wand down at me.

I crawling over to where mommy lay, still on the floor.  
"Mommy? Mommy wake up?" I said between sobs, shaking her.  
At this, Voldemort laughed. Then, with a swish of his wand, he levitated me so that I hovered in the air.  
"Where is your daddy, Alexa?" He rasped out.  
The way he said my name frightened me.  
"I don't know" I whimpered.  
"Really?" He asked, an ugly smile forming on his face.  
I suddenly felt a searing pain in my whole body, and I couldn't breath.  
"Then I suppose you are of no use to me, Alexa."  
The pain in my body went on and on, for what felt like days. Voldemort laughed as he cast spell after spell upon me. Not anything that would kill me, just torture me.  
"Please, don't kill me." I gasped out, after a while.  
"Kill you? No. I'm not going to kill you." he breathed out in his hideous voice.  
With that, I felt a pain worst than any other pain I had ever experienced in my life. The pain was in my left eye, and in my left leg. It lasted only a few seconds, but it left me completely breathless.

I was dropped to the floor. Voldemort vanished.

It was only when a Dumbledore and a group of Aurors arrived that I even noticed my leg. It was gone.  
They had found me, in a puddle of my own blood, shaking mommy and pleading for her to wake up.

I was taken to St Mungo's Hospital, but they could not restore my leg. Somehow, Voldemort had made sure I could never have it back.

Something had been done to my eye. It felt cold, and was green. I also saw only black, grey, and white out of it. But I could see bright colors out of it when I looked at someone. They were surrounded with one color or another. I didn't know what it meant. They didn't know what was wrong with it.  
I had been tortured, and my mommy had been killed in front of me. That's all I could think about for a long time.  
I don't know how long I stayed at St Mungo's Hospital, but eventually they let me out to go live with my Aunt Cora.

 ** _THREE YEARS LATER:_**

I walked alongside Aunt Cora as we arrived at King's Cross Station.

My Hogwarts letter of acceptance had arrived 2 months prior, and I had been thrilled. It had been the first day in the last 3 years that I had actually felt truly happy.  
Aunt Cora had been thrilled too. I think she was tired of taking care of a "damaged freak" as she always called me.  
Truth be told, I was just as, or more excited as her to be getting away from life with Aunt Cora for once. I may be damaged and I may be a freak as she always called me, and I may be gloomy and quiet too, but at least I wasn't like Aunt Cora; Bitter, Cruel, self-centered, and always angry for no apparent reason. It had been hard living with someone like that.

We had already gotten all of my school supplies at Diagon Alley, and we were now standing between platforms 9 and 10.  
"Well, get on with it then." Aunt Cora said sharply, shewing me towards the brick wall. No goodbye, no well wishes. It was to be expected. We weren't close, after all. Aunt Cora had never wanted me, as she often reminded me, and I didn't blame her. I had never wanted her either, not that I ever told her to her face.  
I sighed and walked toward the bricks.  
I know what I was to do, but I was still frightened. I wanted to see someone else do it first, to make sure it was safe.  
I was shoved forward by Aunt Cora from behind.  
"Go." Aunt Cora said impatiently.  
"Yes, Aunt Cora." I replied quietly.  
I took a deep breath, and jogged toward the bricks. I couldn't run full speed because of my leg, but I could jog.  
I passed through the wall, and was presented with the the Hogwarts Express, and a few bustling children about, boarding the train.

I pushed my cart full of school supplies, and boarded the train. It was had a few children looking for compartments on it, but most were already seated. Many of the children who saw me gave me strange looks upon seeing my wooden leg, and different colored eyes. Some even gave me frightened looks. I looked down, trying not to let it bother me, and tried to find a completely empty compartment. There were none, but there were quite a few with only one person already inside. I decided on a compartment with a blond haired girl who was reading alone.

My left eye could see a purple cloud surrounding the girl. I saw the cloud, and then my left eye went back to seeing it's normal black and white colors. Over the years, I had gotten to know what each color kind of meant. I couldn't always be sure though. I didn't usually pay any attention to what color each persons cloud was. I only bothered if I was planning on speaking to them at all. People with a purple cloud around them were usually mysterious, childish, sad, artistic and a bit arrogant.

They eye was a gift, and a curse. It helped me really see what a person was like, before I even knew them. It also made people incredibly nervous around me, especially if they knew that not only was this eye a different color, but it saw the world differently.

"May I sit here?" I asked politely. She looked at me, and then down at my leg.  
"Uh, sure" she said, and then went back to reading.  
I sat down, and remained silent.

A moment later, a kind looking boy entered. The cloud of color around him flashed in my left eye quickly. Blue. Which could mean smart, calm, sensitive, intuitive and hard to anger. But, he also had a yellow mixed in.  
"Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else seems to be is full." he asked, motioning at the seat opposite me.  
"Of course." I smiled at him. "I'm Alexa." I said, holding out my hand.  
He shook it shyly. "Remus." He said simply, smiling. He glanced at my left eye, and then down at my leg, but didn't say anything.  
He had kind looking brown eyes, and his face had two scars running from his right cheekbone to his jaw. I felt comfortable around him, and he didn't seem as frightened or disgusted as most other children were of me.  
We sat in a comfortable silence.  
A black messy haired boy with glasses popped his head in. "Are these seats taken?" He asked.

The cloud was yellow around him. Energetic, optimism, easy-going, humor, and Courage.  
I shook my head no, in responce to his question, and looked down at my lap when he did a double take at me. He hesitated, as if wanting to leave on second thought, but then he seemed to shake himself.  
"Oi!" He yelled over his shoulder. "In here you two!".  
He took a seat next to Remus, and two other boys followed him in.  
One was short, and had straw blond hair, and two large front teeth. He sat next to the boy with glasses, and looked down at his lap, his hands fiddling nervously. He had a red-to-yellow cloud. Survival oriented, Intelligent, Humor, Childish and a dishonest nature,  
The other boy had black hair, longer and smoother looking than the one with glasses. He looked at me up and down raising an eyebrow. He glanced at the boy with glasses, and then seated himself in the only free spot, next to me.

His cloud was the same as the boy with the glasses, but it also had a bit of black in it. Black meant bold, rich, power, elegance, and evil. Normaly, I would be frightened by seeing this color cloud. But, the boy mostly had the yellow, and only specks of black. The color faded as quickly as it had appeared through my green eye.  
The boy with the glasses held out his hand to Remus beside him.  
"I'm James. James Potter."  
Remus shook James' extended hand. "I'm Remus Lupin. It's a pleasure to meat you, James."  
James looked over at me expectantly, his eyes lingering on my one green eye, and then glancing down at my leg.  
"My name's Alexa Carrington" I said quietly.  
James looked over at the blond haired girl beside me, who was still reading, and appeared oblivious to the group of all of us.

"And what's your name, love?" He asked her.  
She didn't look up from her book, and remained silent.  
"Shy?" He asked her laughing. "Fine by me. We'll call you, lets see.." He looked up in thought.  
"Shyly" Suggested the boy next to me.  
"Yes!" James exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "Very nice to meet you, Shyly." He said to her, and the other two boys laughed.  
"This here's Peter Petigrew," James said, gesturing towards the blond boy. "And that right there is Sirius Black." James motioning to the boy beside her.

Peter looked up upon hearing his name, forced a smiled, not looking at anyone, and looked back down at his lap.  
Sirius nodded his head at Remus in greeting, and then turned to me. His grey eyes flickered to my green one and down to my wooden leg.  
"What's wrong with your leg?" he asked bluntly. "And whats up with the different colored eyes?"

There was silence for a moment. It was the first time someone had actually asked me, and I didn't know how to respond. I didn't want to tell him the long, horrible truth.

"Uh, I was born like this." I lied.

"It's kinda, creepy." James said, then realizing what he said he quickly added, "And kinds cool at the same time." It didn't sound genuine, and I felt a little hurt.

"Thanks." I said quietly.

"Say, can you show us the whole thing? How far does it go up?" Sirius asked me.

I assumed he was speaking of my leg, and lifted up my skirt hesitatingly to show them. The wooden leg went up to the middle of my thigh. It wasn't like a normal wooden leg. It was magical, and blended right in with my skin. I also had a little feeling in it. That was how I could jog.

They all gasped when I showed them, even the blond haired girl who was now paying attention apparently. I suppose they had never seen someone without a leg before.

"Gross!" Peter yelled out. It was the first sound I had heard come out of his mouth.

I felt my face get warm, and quickly covered up my leg.

"You say you were born like that?" Asked an incredulous James.

"Yes." I said simply, looking down not meeting anyone's gaze.

There was a long moment of silence, and then James and Sirius started to play a game of Wizarding Chess, and I watched on in silence. I had never seen a game of Wizarding Chess before, and it was quite interesting.

Remus read a book for the remainder of the trip, and Peter and I watched the boys play. James won the first round, and then Sirius won.

Finally, the train stopped and there was voice in the air that told us all to leave our baggage on the train to be collected.

All of the children got off the train and were greeted by a very large man named Hagrid who led us to boats in a lake.

Remus, and the 3 other boys stuck together, and got on one boat, talking excitedly.

I followed the blond haired girl who the boys had dubbed "Shyly" onto another boat. She didn't seem to care that I stuck to her like glue. I didn't even know her name, but she didn't seem scared of me like the other children did.

Two other girls, who looked to be around my age got on the boat I was in and gave me disgusted looks, giggling behind their hands. I ignored them.

Both of their clouds surrounding them weren't completely any one color. They were mostly orange-ish. Attraction, stand out, wealth, youthful, and vain, would be what I would place in them. But I couldn't be very sure.

The boats all had lanterns on them. I could see across the lake that there was a mountain with a huge castle on top. The boats moved of their own accord toward the mountain, and we soon arrived at the castle. We all got off the boats. I had a bit of trouble getting off, but I was helped by the blond haired girl. She didn't say anything, she just helped me out. The two other girls sniggered, and she glared at both of them.

"Thank you" I said gratefully. She didn't reply.

Hagrid led us all to the castle doors. He opened them, and stepped aside so we could all enter. We were all led up a long winding staircase, where we were met by stern, yet kind faced women dressed all in black, and had a large pointy hat on her head.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," the women said. "My name is Professor McGonagall. Please follow me." She turned, and led us a huge stone and marble entryway into a tiny waiting room.

Her cloud was a mix between red and blue, but I didn't put much thought into what it meant. I was too nervous.

"Now," she said, turning back towards us all. "Before you may join the banquet, you will first be sorted into your houses. There is Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. All of which have great qualities and people. The sorting hat will determine where each of you belong. You will be sorted soon, so get ready" she said, and then left.

 _ **END OF CHAPTER 1.**_

 _ **I hope you liked this! Please tell me what you thought, and leave feedback. And any suggestions on how I can improve will be taken**_ _ **gratefully**_ _ **, not insaulted-ly. Yes, I know that's not a word.**_

 _ **Also, I'm looking for a good beta for this story if anyone's interested. I want Constructive Criticism.**_

 _ **Thank you so much! The next chapter SHOULD be up next Sunday.**_


	2. First Year, Part 2 (The Sorting Hat)

Damaged (A Marauders Era story) First Year, Part 2 (The Sorting Hat)

Jane Sirrose

As soon as McGonagall left, everyone started talking.

I remained silent and waited for her to come back. The blond haired girl came over to me and asked in a bored sounding voice,  
"So, where do you want to be sorted?"  
I was too surprised that she had spoken to me to answer for a moment.

"Oh, I don't know," I said. "maybe Hufflepuff. What about you?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "Anywhere but Gryffindor. Gryffindors are arrogant, reckless, and obnoxious Gits."

"Oh," I said, a little surprised.  
I wondered how she knew what Gryffindors were like, considering she was a First Year student, like me, and hadn't even met any Gryffindors that I was aware of anyway. Maybe she knew someone back home who was a Gryffindor.

Just then, there was a shrieking sound that made all the children jump.

"What was that?" I asked, a little scared.

Just then, ghostly figures flew through the room.

"They're harmless," the blond girl said in a bored sounding tone. Upon seeing my frightened expression, she smiled slightly. It was the first time I had seen her smile, and it transformed her eyes lit up when she smiled, and her lips that were naturally turned down curved upwards. She should smile more often, I thought to myself.  
She had

The ghosts that had swooped down around us started talking to some of the students, and I felt slightly embarrassed at being frightened of them.

The door opened, and Professor McGonagall came back in.

"Children, follow me now to the Great Hall, where you will all be sorted," she said, and she led us all into the Great Hall. It was a huge room with hundreds of Candles that hung in midair, and the ceiling looked like the sky outside with a million stars shining brightly and dark clouds behind them.

I wondered if it there was no ceiling up there, or if it some kind of magic illusion.

The floors were lined with long wooden tables, where children of all ages sat and watched us as McGonagall led us to a stool with a pointy hat placed on it at the end of the room.  
There was another long table where the professors all sat and watched us.  
I noticed some of the students at the tables giving me strange looks. Some of them, especially the younger ones looked frightened upon seeing me and whispered behind their hands.  
I looked down at the floor, pretending not to notice their stares.

McGonagall arrived at the stool with the hat placed upon it and stopped, turning to us.  
"Wait here," she said, and she turned back to the hat.

All of a sudden, a rip near the brim of the hat opened wide like a mouth and started to sing.

"There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on, and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

McGonagall waited for the hat's song to finish, then applauded with the rest of the hall when it had. She then turned to us.

"Now," she said, pulling out a long roll of parchment, "when I call your name, you will come and sit on the stool. You will place the sorting hat on top of your head, and you will be sorted into your appropriate houses."

I suddenly felt very nervous. I would have to stand up there, in front of everyone with my deformities. There were enough people who stared at me when I was surrounded by a crowd; I couldn't imagine having to go up there and have every single eye on me.

McGonagall cleared her throat, and then called out in a loud voice,  
"Aagard, Carry!"

A tall, black-haired girl with a pale, sickly complexion stepped forward and placed the hat on top her head.  
"SLYTHERIN!" The hat called out immediately.  
The girl smirked and walked over to the applauding Slytherins table.

I don't know why she seemed so pleased to be placed in Slytherin. From what I had heard, they were a nasty group. But then again, the girl had a black cloud surrounding her. I suppose she might fit in with the Slytherins.

"Acken, Michel!" McGonagall called out.

A nervous looking boy with dark brown hair stepped up to the stool and placed the hat on his head.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat called out after a minute.  
The boy grinned ear to ear and skipped happily over to the Hufflepuff table, where two other boys met him and clapped him on the back proudly.

I hoped I would end up in Hufflepuff; I think I would have a hard time with Slytherin, and I don't think I would be smart enough for Ravenclaw. Nor do I think I would be brave enough for Gryffindor. But Hufflepuffs were known to be kind. There were also quite a few healers who came from Hufflepuff, and that's what I wanted to be someday. I wanted to help other children who were inflicted with wounds like I had been. I wanted to help anyone who decided to fight back against Voldemort. I wanted to help in any way I could, one day, without directly having to fight myself.

McGonagall had called out name after name, each, in turn, walked to the hat and were sorted.  
I only paid attention to a few names after the first few students had been called out. I was honestly too nervous to concentrate on where the hat placed each child.  
"Black, Sirius!" McGonagall called out.  
The boy from the train with the gray eyes and smooth black hair stepped forward. I wasn't sure, but he looked a bit nervious, which surprised me. I wouldn't have thought that boy would be nervous.  
He put the hat on and waited. He appeared to be muttering something under his breath.  
"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat called.  
The boy look surprised for a second, and then he jumped in the ear putting his fist in the air.  
"YES!" He yelled, and a quite a few of the students in the hall laughed at his reaction. He bowed to the crowd, not looking the slightest bit embarrassed. He sent the Slytherin table a smug look and walked over to the cheering Gryffindors.

"Camio, Aileen." McGonagall called out.

The blond haired girl who I had stuck by stepped forward.  
Well, now I knew what her name was; Aileen Camio. Not "Shyly."

The girl, Aileen, stepped forward looking quite bored with everything. She placed the hat on her head, and the hat remained silent for a while. Then it called out,  
"SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherin table cheered, and Aileen walked over to them. She didn't look happy, but she didn't look displeased either. Her face was expressionless.

I knew the Slytherin house had a bad reputation, but I suddenly hoped I would be placed there, if only for the fact that she had been placed there; She seemed like a friend to me, even though we had only exchanged a few words. Maybe all Slytherins weren't all bad, after all.  
Although, as I looked over at the Slytherin table as Aileen walked over to join them, I could see quite a few black clouds hovering over their table. Rich, bold, power, evil, Mystery. But I could also see quite a few purple clouds, like Aileen, had.

McGonagall continued to call out a few more names until finally she reached mine.

"Carrington, Alexa !" She called out.

For a moment, I didn't move, paralyzed with fear. People looked around when no one stepped forward. McGonagall called out my name again.

"Carrington, Alexa! Please step forward."

I forced my legs to move forward.  
I sauntered to the stool, conscious of all the eyes that were on me, and the sudden quietness in the Great Hall.  
I reached for the hat, my hands shaking and placed it on my head.

It began to talk.  
"Let's see here," the hat muttered inside my head. "this is a bit of a difficult choice." it said.

"Please," I whispered to the hat. "Please, put me in Hufflepuff Or Slytherin."

"Slytherin?" it spoke, as if to itself and not me. "No, no. I'm afraid you aren't cunning at all, little one. Let's see here. You would make an excellent Hufflepuff; kind, hard working, and loyal at heart. But, there are other overpowering qualities inside of you. I think you'd make a better, GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled out, and I took the hat off my head.

I sat in stunned silence for a second. Gryffindor? I wasn't brave. The night of my mother's death passed through my head. I hadn't felt brave then, and I didn't now. The hat surely must be mistaken.

The Gryffindor table remained silent, but one by one they started to clap and then cheer. It sounded forced to my ears. I felt disappointment and didn't even bother to fake a smile as I went over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to the boy named Sirius who was looking at me with a little bit of disbelief. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who didn't think a girl without a leg could be brave enough for Gryffindor.

The Professor called out more names, and I sat in silence as a few other children were placed in Gryffindor and came to sit beside me hesitantly.

All four of the boys I had sat with on the train were placed in Gryffindor.

When it had been James turn, he had walked up there with nothing but confidence emanating from him. The hat had instantly announced him to be Gryffindor.  
It placed Remus pretty quickly too and had taken the longest amount of time off the four of them with Peter, who had eventually been sorted into Gryffindor with the rest of them.

There was a red-haired girl named Lily Evans who had been placed in Gryffindor. James, who had not been sorted yet at the time, had cheered loudly. She had seemed pretty confused, considering he hadn't done that for anyone else, and she didn't appear to know him. But she had smiled warmly at him in thanks.

There had been a red and pink cloud surrounding Lily; Quick temper, strong will, competitive, caring, and emotional. A strange combination to be sure, and not one I saw very often.

There was a boy named Severus Snape who had been sorted into Slytherin. I had noticed him more than all the others because I had seen the red-haired girl, Lily, give him a thumbs up.  
When the boy had been placed in Slytherin though, James and Sirius had Booed loudly. Which had resulted in a cold glare from Lily, which had abruptly stopped James in his booing. Sirius had stopped as soon as James had.

After what seemed to be forever, Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll of parchment paper and took the Sorting Hat away.  
She took a seat next to a man I assumed to be Headmaster Dumbledore, and cleared her throat,  
"Attention please!" she called out and the few students, James Potter, Sirius Black, and a few other boys making noise quieted.

The man with a white beard who was sitting in the middle of the table lined with professors stood up.  
"Now that you have all been sorted into your houses," he said, and the hall grew silent to listen. "Let the feast commence!"

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm trying to make each chapter be around 2,000 words, that's why I'm not posting more (Even though I have it written down and I planned to) in this chapter.**

 **The next chapter will be called "The Feast."I'll try my best to update every Sunday, and I will also answer all comments on Sundays. Probably not before then though! :(**


	3. First Year, Part 3 (The Grand Feast)

I looked down at the table. It was suddenly lined with all kinds of food. All the plates that had been empty only seconds before were now filled with all varieties of food. The students immediately began eating in delight.

I looked down at my plate. I didn't feel hungry at all, but I picked up my fork, spooning mashed potatoes into my mouth slowly, merely for something I could do with myself. The food was delicious.

All the students around me had begun to talk to each other; the first years introduced themselves to each other and started laughing and talking amongst themselves like they'd known each other long before today. No one tried to introduce themselves to me though, and I didn't introduce myself to anyone either. I felt too nervous and too self-conscious.

The boy named Sirius Black, who had been sitting next to me, in the beginning, had gotten up and went to sit by James, Peter, and Remus as soon as the feast had begun.

James had tried to sit with the redheaded girl, Lily, but she had gotten up and sat next to a brown-haired girl named Alice something. They had immediately begun talking and laughing together.

All the students sat close together, but the two students who were seated on either side of me were sitting as far from me as they could, talking to the children next to them.

I felt like crying, but I kept an emotionless mask plastered on my face as I ate.

Half way through the meal the ghosts which we had met earlier all came into the great hall, flying about and talking to the students.  
A brown haired boy suddenly came over, seating himself next to me. He looked like he was a First-year student, and he looked a bit nervous.  
I noticed he had a combination of a Pink, blue, and orange. Cloud that surrounded him; Tenderness. Caring, smart, courage, and humor

"Hello," he said, smiling timidly at me, "my name's Frank Longbottom. What's your name?"  
I looked at him surprised that he was talking to me.  
"My name is Alexa Carrington," I replied quietly.

"Why are you all alone over here, if you don't mind me asking, Alexa,?" He asked. He genuinely seemed to want to know the answer. It didn't appear he was trying to be mean by asking.

"No one seems to like me," I replied honestly. My bottom lip began to tremble, and I looked down at my lap, "I think the other children think I'm strange, or they're scared of me, you know, because of my eye and my leg. I'm surprised you're talking to me, Frank."

Frank shrugged and seemed to relax a little.  
"You looked like you could use a friend, and I would like to be just that." He said smiling.  
"Besides, I think your eyes are quite lovely. They're not the usual, and that's what makes them look so unique."

"Thank you," I said, beaming up at him. I don't know if he meant it, but it was nice of him to say nonetheless. "That's the kindest thing anyone had ever said to me. I would like to be your friend too, Frank."  
He smiled back at me and held out his hand to shake.  
I took his hand.  
"Friends then?" He said.  
I nodded my head emphatically,  
"Friends," I said, smiling.

"You gonna eat those?" he asked, pointing to the two rolls on my plate.  
"No," I said, "I'm not very hungry. You can have them if you want."  
Frank grabbed the rolls from my plate and bit into one.  
"Mmm, the food here is delicious!" he said between mouthfuls.  
I laughed as he stuffed the second roll whole into his mouth, his cheeks bulging.

After we all got done eating, the plates all cleared themselves and became sparkling clean again.  
Then a long row of all kinds of desserts appeared. There were all sorts of cakes, ice creams of every flavor imaginable, puddings, Jell-O, doughnuts, and a lot of things I didn't even recognize.

"Oh, I wish I had a boys apatite and could fit more food into my stomach," I said in a wistful tone to Frank, who had stuffed a chocolate cupcake in his mouth.

"You are lucky, Alexa;" he said, after he'd finished eating the cupcake, "You won't have to deal with a stomach ache like the rest of us who are stuffing ourselves with desserts."

"I suppose you're right," I said. "But I do wish I could try just a little bit of every dessert here. They all look so tasty; I can't decide on just one!"

From a few seats down I heard a boy, who I saw to be James Potter, exclaim,  
"Couldn't they have told us there would be all these desserts BEFORE we all filled up on the dinner? I don't think I can fit another thing into my stomach!"

"I don't think I can fit anymore in my stomach either mate," Sirius Black said, "But I'm not gonna let that stop me from trying!"

From where Frank and I sat, we saw Sirius scooping piles of Ice cream, cake, and some rice pudding onto his plate until the plate was nearly overfilling onto the table. He then proceeded to stuff it all into his mouth like there was no tomorrow.

"Oi!" James said, "Don't eat all of the desserts before we can get to it."

Sirius's face was smeared with chocolate ice cream as he glanced up at James and said,  
"You want some? Here you go then!"  
Sirius took one of the cream pies from the table. In one swift motion, he slammed it into James' stunned face.

The whole Gryffindor table burst into laughter, Sirius amongst the loudest of the laughing students.  
I couldn't help but join in on the laughter when I saw James' face.

James sat for a moment, an incredulous, indignant look on his face. James seemed to snap out of it after a moment, and he took a bowl of pudding and dumped it all over Sirius' head.  
Now it was Sirius' turn look shocked.  
James fell out of his chair laughing so hard, and Remus had tears running down his face from laughter.

I chuckled at Sirius's expression.  
Peter helped James up off the floor, and before anyone knew it, there was a full-out food fight amongst the four boys. Soon, other students joined in on the fun.

Frank looked at me,  
"You wanna join?" he asked hopefully.  
I shook my head,  
"You go," I said, "I don't want to get dirty.  
He didn't look like he believed me, but he went to join the food war without arguing.

I might've joined in on the food fight too, but I don't think they would've welcomed me. These boys and other students all seemed to be friends, and they didn't appear to like me.

James threw a glob of mashed potatoes at Sirius, who ducked behind the red-haired girl named Lily.  
The mashed potatoes hit her on her shoulder, and she gave James Potter the most scathing glare I had ever seen. She got up from her chair and started yelling at James.

"How dare you! That was disgusting! Stop all of this right now! All of you!"

James stuttered over his words, laughing slightly,  
"S-sorry Lily! I meant to hit Sirius. I-"

Sirius, who had grabbed a bowl of some kind of liquid from the table, dumped it all over Lily from behind.

Lily gasped in shock as the orange liquid poured down on her. She turned around and faced Sirius in one quick motion. At the look on the girl's face, Sirius burst into fits of laughter.

Lily didn't seem to find it very funny though. She clenched her jaw tightly.

Sirius' laughter seemed to make her just snap.  
She slapped Sirius right in the face. All the laughing Gryffindors quieted, and the few who had been throwing food stopped in surprise. Sirius Black and James Potter both had identical looks of shock plastered on their faces.

Before anything could get out of control though, McGonagall came over.

"Miss Evans! Control yourself!. And as for you boys," she said looking at James and Sirius.  
"You and Miss Evans will all serve a detention in my office this Tuesday afternoon." She glared down at the three of them.

"But, but," Lily stuttered.

McGonagall turned her back and went back to sit at the teacher's table.

James ran his hands through his hair, making it messier than it already was and smiled at Lily sheepishly.  
Lily sent him a glare and sat back down with the girl named Alice, and buried her face in her hands. Alice patted her on the back consolingly and glared at Sirius and James.  
James and Sirius went back over to where Remus and Peter sat. Sirius muttered something about redheads and their tempers to James.

Frank Longbottom came back over to me and sat down. He was covered from head to toe in food.  
"That was crazy!" He said in a breathless happy sounding voice.  
"Yeah," I agreed.

"Oi! Frank!" a boy sitting a few seats down from us called out.  
Frank looked over at him.  
"Come sit with us!" A girl next to the boy called out, giving me a nasty look.

Frank looked at them and then back at me, unsure.  
"Go ahead," I said, forcing a smile.  
"Alright, but we're still friends?" He asked jokingly.  
"Yes," I said smiling, a genuine smile now.  
He went over, sitting in between the girl in the boy who had called him, and he laughed at something they said.

I noticed how alone I was again.

Shortly after, the desserts were all cleared away from the table.  
Dumbledore rose from the table, and the hall grew silent as he cleared his throat to speak.

"Now that we are all fed and watered, I have a few start-of-term notices to give you." He looked around the tables full of students.  
"First years should know that entering the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all of the students; For it is full of dangerous creatures. Some of our older students should do well to remember this as well."

Dumbledore's eyes flashed in the direction of two red head boys who looked to be in their 6th or 7th year. They looked back at him with identical innocent looks.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term." Continued Dumbledore, "Anyone interested in playing for their house teams, should contact Madam Hooch."

"And last but not least, I would like to remind all the pupils that the Great Lake is not a place that I would recommend swimming in," Dumbledore said, giving the two red haired boys another look, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes and a slight smile on his lips. "Some of our students forget this valuable advice last year, and were nearly eaten alive by the Giant Squid that currently reigns in the Great Lake."  
A few of the professors coughed, and I was sure they were trying to hide laughter.

"Now, before we all must go to bed, let us all sing the school song!" he announced.

Dumbledore swished his wand. A long golden ribbon flew out of it and rose high above the tables, twisting itself into words.

"Everyone may pick their favorite tune to sing the words along to," Dumbledore said, "Here we go!"

All the students began to sing the words to the song that was inscribed on the ribbon.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now, they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot."

Everybody sang the song in different tunes, and we all finished the song at different times.  
I sang it to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Well, I attempted to.

The last to finish was Sirius Black and James Potter who were both left singing in high and then low voices. James made his voice pitch so high that Sirius had to stop singing due to his gales of laughter.  
James' face colored a little, but he bowed dramatically when a few of the students clapped at his performance.

When the song finally ended, Dumbledore rose and began to clap. The rest of the students and teachers followed his example, standing, and clapping loudly.

"And now, bedtime for the lot of you!" Dumbledore said.

Everyone stood, and Gryffindor Prefect led all the first-year Gryffindors through the crowds of students.

As we left, I glanced over at the Slytherin table. Aileen was also following a Slytherin Prefect, and just before she disappeared out of sight, she glanced up at me. I smiled at her. She stared back at me, her face not revealing any emotions.

 _ **I hope you liked this! Please tell me what you thought! :D**_

 _ **Also, as some of you (Okay, most of you) probably noticed, I changed Alexa's picture and description. Only slightly! As I was writing, I got to thinking; Why would people be afraid of a light green eye? Wouldn't they fear a RED eye more?**_

 _ **So, just a slight change! :)**_

 _ **Thank you so much! The next chapter will be up next Sunday, as usual! :) The next chapter will be titled: "The First Week."**_


	4. First Year, Part 4 (The Hogwarts Routine

The Prefect led us out of the Great Hall, and up a long staircase. He then led us through sliding panels and hanging tapestries, and then we climbed more stairs. Finally, we all stopped in front of a large portrait of a fat woman all dressed all in pink silks.

"Password?" she asked.

"Wattlebird," the Prefect said. The portrait of the fat lady swung open to reveal a round hole in the wall.  
We all scrambled through it. I was the last, as I had a little difficulty getting through it.

Inside was the Gryffindor common room. It was a round-shaped chamber, full of snug looking armchairs, and a blazing fireplace.

"Girls Dormitories are this way," the prefect said, pointing to the right where a there was a long staircase.

"Boys Dormitories are that way," The Prefect said, pointing toward the opposite direction.

I followed the other girls to the Girl's Dormitory. We went up the flight of stairs into a tower. We found five four-posters beds with dark red curtains hanging around each bed. All were made, with all of our belongings and trunks at the end of the beds. There were chairs at each bed that had Gryffindor school uniforms on them.

A few "Goodnights" were said, but other that no one talked very much. All the girls got into the beds and most fell asleep instantly.

I got into my bed, which was right in-between Lily's and some other girl, but I didn't know her name.

I lay there, letting the tears that I had been holding back for a while now come out. I had only been here for a day, and I felt hopeless and scared.  
If anyone had been listening, they would've heard a few tiny sniffles, but that's it. I had learned to be a very quiet Cryer living with Aunt Cora.  
It was a long time before I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of something crashing to the floor. I sat up quickly, rubbing my eyes.  
I looked around and tried to remember where I was for a second.

A raven-haired girl with round rosy cheeks was bent over a scattered pile of books and papers on the floor, picking each one up and placing them back in her trunk.

I looked around me. Everyone else must already be awake, for the girl and I were the only ones in the room.

I got out of my bed and walked over to where she was kneeling on the floor.  
I bent down and helped her pick up the books. She didn't meet my gaze as I handed them to her.

"Thanks," she mumbled. I could see her hand shaking as she took the books from me.

"You're welcome," I said, smiling nervously. "What's your name?" I asked. I might as well TRY to make friends here, I thought to myself.

"Carry Arion." She replied in a small voice. "Uh, I have to go," she said, motioning to the door. She had barely said the last word before she was out the door and gone.  
I sighed, feeling a stab of sadness go through me. Well, at least I tried.

I quickly dressed in my school uniform and went down to breakfast. I sat alone at the long table, eating breakfast quietly. I could see Frank with a group of First and Second years, who were all laughing and talking together. At one point Frank glanced over at me and smiled. He tried to get up and go to where I sat, but one of the boys motioned for him to stay, and he shrugged apologetically to me, sitting back down.

A few owls flew through the halls and dropped mail for some of the students.  
Sirius Black received a howler from his mother. It went on and on about Sirius being a disgrace to the black name. I guess the Blacks were all supposed to be placed in Slytherin, not Gryffindor.

When breakfast was over, we were all handed our school schedules. The first class on my schedule was Charms.

As I walked through the school, up and down many staircases, I could see everyone staring and suddenly going quiet for a moment as I passed them. As I passed them they scooted aside as far from me as they could. Some even pointed at my leg or eye.  
I ignored them the best I could and found my way to Charms Class.

Upon entering Charms, I looked around. Most of the students were already there. James Potter and Sirius Black were leaning back in their chairs, trying to balance on just the two back legs. Every few seconds James would look over at Lily Evans. Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin were murmuring and motioning at James, grinning.

Lily sat next to Alice and Severus Snape. Lily and Alice were talking and laughing, Severus Snape sat close to Lily, but didn't seem to be conversing with the two girls. All the students were sitting quietly, getting out their books, or they were talking to each other.

I saw Aileen Camio sitting next to two other Slytherin girls. Unlike my red-lined robes for Gryffindor, hers were green for Slytherin. She was writing in a notebook, and the three of them didn't seem to be talking. She glanced up as I walked in, but went back to her writing.

I eventually found Frank Longbottom, who sat with two other boys. After a long moment of hesitation, I walked over to him. The students all stared at me as I made my way over to Frank.

The two boys next to Frank were talking but became silent as they saw me.

"Hi, Frank," I said, smiling. "Can I sit here?" I asked, pointing to the chair next to him. I tried to ignore the two other boys looking at me from head to toe, their gazes lingering on my leg and eye. Both the boys had clouds surrounding them, but I ignored them.

Frank looked up and smiled.  
"Sure," he said.

I sat down, fiddling with my hands. After a moment Frank spoke.

"So, are you excited about the first day at Hogwarts?" he asked me. "Well, the first day of classes, that is," he added.

"Oh, yes," I said, looking up from my lap, "I'm nervous, but I'm excited."

"This is Jack," Frank said, pointing to a brown haired boy he had been talking with moments before. The boy eyed me, his features set in a scowl, his eyes only focused on my left eye. The red one.

"And this is Corry." Frank continued awkwardly, pointing to the other boy, who had white-blond hair. Corry at least forced a smile, but it ended up looking like a grimace.

"This is Alexa," he said to the two boys.

They both mumbled hellos, and I smiled warmly at them, even though I felt like hiding my face with the curtain of my long hair. They both seemed greatly surprised when I smiled; as if they thought just because I had a missing leg and different colored eyes I was incapable of human emotion and gestures.

Then saying they had to say hi to someone, they both left to sit with someone else.

"Sorry," I said.

"Huh? Sorry about what?" Frank asked a little perplexed.

"I didn't think they would leave like that if I came over," I explained.

Frank looked a bit confused at first, but then he seemed to understand.

"Oh," was all he said for a moment. "that isn't your fault," he stated. "Just give them time. You'll see, things will get better."

I smiled at him in thanks, but I wasn't so sure about that.

The Professor, a very small man with a brown mustache that curled at the ends, and hair that was beginning to whiten walked in at that moment, and everyone quieted down. From a few seats over from where I was sitting, James Potter had tumbled down from his chair that he had been trying to balance on. Sirius let out a barking laugh.

Professor Filius Flitwick was the kindest teacher at Hogwarts, in my opinion anyway. He was part Goblin and didn't look at me strangely.  
We were taught precise wand movements and proper pronunciation of spells. We were taught a Levitation Charm the first day in this class. I was happy at first when I was the first to make the feather float in the air. But when Professor Filius congratulated me on this achievement, all the students turned to look at me. Some wore scared expressions, some disgusted, and some surprises. None wore pleasant expressions, and I looked down, ashamed.

Frank patted me on the back encouragingly.

"Nice work, Alexa" he whispered, smiling at me.  
I looked up and smiled gratefully back at him.

After Charms Class, Frank went back with those two boys he'd been with earlier, and I was left alone to navigate my way through the castle. In a few of the classes, like History of Magic and Transfiguration, I was able to sit right with Frank. But the rest, somebody else had already been sitting with Frank.

Professor Horace Slughorn taught Potions. There was always at least one cauldron that exploded in this class the first few weeks. Severus Snape quickly became Slughorns favorite student, as his potions were always just right.

Herbology was taught by Professor Pomona Sprout, a short, fat lady with curly blond hair that was beginning to gray.  
There were all kinds of plants in the greenhouse. Dangerous ones and healing ones. We had to learn the difference between the two.

On Wednesdays, In Astronomy, we learned to study the night skies through telescopes at midnight and were learning the names of different stars and the movements of the planets.  
I found the skies themselves fascinating and quite beautiful, but all the notes we had to take down made this class a bit dull. There was a star named Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Sirius Black became quite smug upon learning this, and for the next few days kept insisting he was "The brightest star" to anyone who would listen.

History of Magic was taught by Professor Binns, an old looking ghost. A lot of the first years had been surprised that a ghost taught at Hogwarts.

Professor Binns made us take down names and dates of "Important" events in Magical History.  
As Binns drones on and on, most of the students barely paid any attention, doodling, sleeping, whispering to the other students, or just sat there bored out of their minds.

McGonagall taught Transfiguration. She made it very clear that she would not accept any misbehavior from the beginning. I was one of the first to transform a match we had each been given into a feather. James and Sirius had also changed the match pretty quickly into a pencil. A lot of the students though weren't able to do for a while.

There were Flying Lessons for the First Years in the second week at Hogwarts, taught by Rolanda Hooch who appeared to be the youngest teacher at Hogwarts.  
She had short, spiky dirty blond hair, and her eyes were a yellow color, like a cat's eyes.  
James and Sirius took an instant liking to Flying Lessons.

Defense The Dark Arts was taught by Professor Kingery, a tall, skinny man, with hollow cheeks and a long pointy nose. His skin had a gray tint, and most of the students were frightened by him.  
In this class, I sat next to Aileen Camio.

I quickly came to realize that it was quite hard navigating Hogwarts on my own.  
There was what seemed like hundreds of staircases; Staircases that moved a lot.  
There were all different kinds of doors, Some wouldn't open until tickled them enough to make them laugh, or until I asked them nicely. Doors that weren't doors at all, but walls that just looked to be doors.

It was tough to remember where anything was because everything seemed to be moving around constantly.  
The people in the portraits that hung everywhere in Hogwarts kept going to visit each other, and that only confused me as to where I was.

The ghosts at Hogwarts liked to fly out of nowhere, startling the daylights out of me.  
After a while, I got used to the ghosts and was no longer scared of them though.  
A ghost named Nearly Headless Nick was always happy to point me in the right direction when he happened to see me struggling.

Then there was a ghost called Peeves The Poltergeist.  
If I were late for class, which I was frequently due to not knowing my way around Hogwarts and getting lost often, Peeves would fly over me and drop wastepaper baskets on me as I was hurrying to class, pull rugs from under my feet, and throw chalk at me.  
One time he even snuck up behind me, grabbed my wooden leg and yell, "BREAK A LEG!"  
He was positively horrible. But I was consoled by the fact that it wasn't only me he did these things too. He delighted in annoying the whole school of students.

There was the caretaker, Argus Filch, who owned a small gray kitten called Mrs. Norris.  
Unlike most kittens though, she was not cute at all. She was scrawny, with bulging bloodshot eyes, her fur did not look soft, it looked bristly, and there wasn't much of it.

If the kitten saw any student break any single rule, she'd run off for Filch, who'd appear a few seconds later, all out of breath pointing an accusing finger at the student.

The kitten liked to follow James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus around, who had all made a reputation for themselves as trouble making pranksters who enjoyed breaking the rules and creating all kinds of mischief.

Filch seemed to know the secret passageways of Hogwarts very well, for he was able to pop out of nowhere as if he was a ghost himself. Most of the students hated him, and it was clear that everyone also disliked the small kitten, and a lot of them were actually afraid of the cat.

I didn't like the kitten either at first, but I felt sorry for it. We were kind of in the same boat, so to speak. I tried to befriend it, but it didn't seem to want me to be its friend. Just like most of the students here, I reflected sadly to myself.

Filch and Peeves didn't seem to like each other very much, as Filch was regularly complaining and insulting Peeves, and Peeves delighted in angering the Filch and his kitten.

In my free time, I mostly studied in the library, away from everyone else.

I was pleasantly surprised one day when Aileen came to the table I sat at and sat down next to me. She didn't say anything, and we studied in silence at first. In the beginning, when I tried to talk to her, she would answer me in simple sentences, most comprising of one word. But, after a while, we began to talk more.

Some times I would go exploring the castle and grounds. Aileen joined me sometimes. We even discovered a few hidden passageways.

Here and there I would hang out with Frank, but he had plenty of other friends, so it was hard to get him alone. Despite his willingness to be my friend, I could tell that his friends didn't approve, and seemed to keep him away purposefully. Frank didn't appear to notice this, though.

The first few weeks at Hogwarts were the hardest thing I had to go through in the last three years. If the students didn't whisper about me, stare at me, or run away from me, they just ignored me completely. The only people in the whole school who bothered even talking to me were Frank Longbottom and Aileen Camio.

 **I know, this was a bit longer than 2,000 words. Nearly 3,000. But this IS the first three weeks! I mean, it's one thing writing a day or two in 2,000 words, but three weeks!? Well now, that's a bit harder. For me at least. I hope this chapter didn't seem boring or anything! I was just trying to explain the first three weeks before I got onto anything more exciting.**

 **In case anyone was interested in knowing, Alexa started her first day of classes on Thursday, September 2nd, in the year 1971, at the age of 11.**


	5. First Year, Part 5 (The Twins Invitation

Two months rolled by, and Halloween was just around the corner. Because I spent much of my spare time exploring the castle, I knew now how to get to all of my classes without getting lost.

As I walked alone to Breakfast, I heard, rather than saw a large group of students clustered around a large poster hanging up on the wall right outside the entrance to the Great hall.

They talked all at once in excited voices, and some were even jumping about excitedly. I noticed that the majority of them were Gryffindor.

I spotted Frank amongst the crowd and made my way to him.

Frank stood talking with a Second-Year blond boy who I had seen at classes before. I didn't know his name, but he was one of the nicer students here at Hogwarts.

I had first laid eyes upon the blond haired boy when he had bumped into me, and he had apologized, helping me pick up my belongings. It had been the first few weeks here at Hogwarts, and I had been surprised because others had bumped into me, but none had apologized.

His cloud that surrounded him had been a mix between red and blue, meaning energetic, competitive, smart, calm, and anger.

Although he didn't back away from me, insult me or pretended I wasn't there like many others did, he never went out of his way to befriend me as Frank had done.

I felt comfortable around him and didn't hesitate as I came and stood next to Frank.

"Oh, hey Alexa!" Frank face broke out into a smile as he saw me.

The blond haired boy looked over at me and smiled politely. I smiled back in response and looked back at Frank.

"Hey, Franky, What's all this about?" I motioned large group of students, most of whom were now departing.

"The Prewett twins are throwing a huge party, and we're all invited!" The blond haired boy answered before Frank had a chance to reply.

"Even the First-Years?" I asked.

"Yes, it says ALL Gryffindors. Read it," Frank nodded his head towards the board.

I glanced up at the board. It had orange and red letters painted on it in neat handwriting, and pumpkins grinned at us, ghosts flying about on the poster. A picture of two red-haired boys were both widely grinning down at us.

It was those two red-haired boys I had first seen at the Sorting Ceremony and had later come to learn that they were notorious pranksters. They were twins, but they weren't identical.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter often followed the twins around like little puppies, begging to be taught some of the pranks the twins pulled. Unfortunately for the rest of the school, the twins obliged them.

The poster read,

"ATTENTION ALL GRYFFINDORS!

Gideon and Fabian Prewett herby invite ALL Gryffindor students to attend our annual Masked Halloween Birthday Party!

Expect lots of candy, food, drink, games, prizes, scares, and most importantly, a Grand Treasure Hunt!

Professor Dumbledore has agreed to let all students stay out past curfew this Halloween night.

RULES TO GET IN:

-All students are required to wear a mask and costume. You will find a large crate full of masks and costumes right under this poster on Halloween, at breakfast time. At the end of the Party, a reward shall be given to each of the three owners of the three best costumes.

-Only Gryffindor students are allowed to attend; unless you've personally received an invitation from Gideon or Fabian Prewett.

-Last but not least, no one should reveal their identity until the end of the party. It's more fun that way!

Date: October 31st.  
Time: 10:00 P.M.  
Location: Hogwarts Grounds. "

After reading it, I understood what all the excitement was about. I suppose that all the older students who had been here longer than the First-Years knew of this yearly event, and greatly looked forward to it each year.

"That sounds like fun," I said after I got done reading it. We were now the only three students standing around; we started to make our way to the Great Hall.

"Yeah," the blond haired boy agreed. "Last year it was epic! They throw a bigger and better one each year. I can't wait to see what this one's like."

The three of us made our way to the Gryffindor table and sat down. I was surprised the blond haired boy had sat with Frank and me. Usually, when Frank sat with me, his friends opted to sit somewhere else.

"Will you be going, Alexa?" Frank asked as he scooped himself a portion of rice pudding.

"I wouldn't miss it," I answered. It was the truth. At a masked party, no one would even know who I was. I would have fun there and fit in with everybody. I felt excitement bubble up at the thought.

"What do you want to go as?" Frank asked around a mouthful of pudding.

"I don't know; I'll have to wait and see what costumes there are," I scooped myself some pudding.

"You would make a great pirate," The blond haired boy gestured to my leg and eye. "You know, with the wooden leg and the eyepatch to cover your eye."

I wasn't sure if he was trying to be mean or not, and wasn't sure how to react. Frank glared at the blond and then glanced at me.

"I, I didn't mean, I mean," The blond stuttered, trying to reassure me. No, he wasn't trying to be mean I decided. I interrupted him with a laugh.

"You're right," I said. "I would make a great pirate."

The boy let out a little breath of relief, and we all continued to talk.

After breakfast, the blond-haired boy - whose name I had figured out during breakfast was Matthew, went to talk to his sister.

As he left, I wondered if I had made a new friend. He had talked to me more than any other student had besides Frank and Aileen. But, maybe he had talked with me to be polite and not because he wanted to be friends.

Frank and I decided to explore the castle a little before classes started in half an hour.

We walked throughout Hogwarts, laughing and talking about all kinds of things; the twins party in only two more days, Franks mother, whom Frank seemed to have the deepest love and respect for, what it would be like being in other houses, and Hogwarts among other things.

When I was with Frank, and we were talking like this, it somehow didn't matter what the other students thought of me. I felt happy when I was with Frank, and what other students thought couldn't bring me down.

As we were on our way to Herbology, we came across James Potter and Lily Evans quarreling loudly in the hallway.

Sirius Black leaned against the wall nonchalantly, watching the two argue and grinning at something Remus Lupin had said. Remus stood next to him, looking tired, his arms folded, giving James a disapproving look.

Peter Pettigrew was leaning against the wall next to Sirius, trying to mimic his grace and casualness. He was failing miserably.

If it had been up to me, I would have quietly passed the group with my head down, doing my best to pretend I wasn't there and do nothing to draw their attention. Everybody knew not to draw the attention of this group unless they wanted to be their next prank victim. Unfortunately for me, Frank had other ideas.

"What's going on here?" Frank asked, stepping between Lily and James, who were in each other faces.

Lily looked like she was about to attack James, her face as red as her hair and her hands curled into tight fists. James looked a mix between angry, scared, and smug. He was smirking at her as she became angrier and angrier, which of course only made her madder.

"Don't look at me," Sirius said as Frank glanced at him for an answer when neither Lily nor James answered. "They were both like this when we came back. You know how they are."

Ever since the Food Fight incident on our first night here, Lily had loathed James Potter and his friend, Sirius Black. She probably would've just ignored James and went on with her life if he didn't constantly try to talk to her. He would bother and tease her until she snapped. It wasn't hard for him to get Lily mad. Lily Evans had one of the quickest and strongest tempers I had ever seen; especially when it came to James.

At the moment she was breathing heavily with anger. I could tell she was on the verge of tears, her eyes glistening, her lower lip trembling. But she wouldn't let James see her cry, and was fighting hard against them, choosing to focus on her anger instead.

I felt a sudden wave of anger go through me as saw all of this. Lily Evans wasn't my friend, I barely even knew her, but she didn't deserve to be bullied by James Potter and his group of friends. Nobody did. Lily had nobody here, and James had three friends standing beside him if anything got out of hand. It wasn't fair.

I didn't know the whole story, why they were arguing, who was at fault. But I didn't care.

"Come on, let's get away from him," I gently tugged on Lily's hand, motioning for her to come. Lily looked momentarily stunned but allowed me to pull her away from the boys.

"Nobody asked you, freak," James spat at me when he saw what I was doing.

As soon as the words had left his mouth, Frank's fist had collided with James' face. It was a clumsy punch, unpracticed and uncoordinated, but there had been enough force behind it to knock James to the ground.

Everyone stood frozen for a moment in utter shock. Even Frank was looking down at his fist as if he couldn't believe his actions.

Frank wasn't the type to get into fights; I had never even seen Frank angry. He was a happy, cheerful boy. Frank was also friends with James, which just added to the shock.

The stillness didn't last long though; Sirius Black was on his feet in an instant, shoving Frank away from James, who still lay on the floor, too surprised to move. Frank stumbled back.

Sirius looked like he was about to go at it with Frank when Remus stepped in between the two, holding Sirius back.

"Calm down, everybody just come down," I had never heard Remus use that stern tone before. It seemed to work though because Sirius was no longer struggling against Remus' hold.

"James, I-I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me," Frank stuttered.

James stood up, brushing nonexistent dirt off his trousers and rubbing his jaw where Frank had punched him. He didn't say anything.

"It was your fault, Potter," Lily said, breaking the silence that had filled the hallway. "You got what you deserved," Lily no longer looked angry; she looked surprised like everyone, and a bit self-righteous. "You shouldn't have called his friend names like that."

"What?" James gasped in indignation. "My fault? You don't just go around punching your friend for calling someone a name. I thought you were against violence, Miss "Violence isn't the answer"?"

"Not," Lily said, "when the violence is righteously directed towards you, Potter." She practically spat James Last name out. "I don't mind at all if you who gets hurt."

James glared at Lily. He didn't say anything.

James and Lily glared at each other, both refusing to back down.  
Sirius glared over at Frank, who wasn't paying attention to Sirius' glaring.  
Frank kept muttering he was sorry over and over to James. James didn't seem to hear him, as he was too focused on glaring Lily down.  
It went on like this for a few minutes, until Remus, ever the voice of reason, spoke up.

"Uh, guys, were late for class." He said, glancing a bit nervously at the group of his friends. "Why don't you all just apologize and forget it ever happened, okay?"

"Alright," James agreed after a moment of consideration.

"Fine," Lily said, not breaking the glare down the two were having.

"Sounds good," Sirius said in a bored tone.

"Yes," Frank agreed in a relieved voice. "Yes, let's do that. I am sorry, James."

Then there was silence. James didn't even acknowledge Frank's apology.

"Well?" Lily scowled at James. "Get on with it; I don't have all day."

"Get on with what?" James genuinely looked confused.

"The apology. You just agreed that you were going to apologize, so get on with it." Lily answered impatiently.

"I did no such thing! You're supposed to apologize to me, not the other way around."

"I think it's fair to say that James owes an apology to Alexa," Frank said.

"Wait, I thought Frank was supposed to apologize to James?" Sirius looked as confused as I felt. "And," he added as an afterthought, "I'm pretty sure Remus owes me an apology for preventing me from giving Frank a taste of his own medicine."

Lily tugged at her hair in frustration, and Remus rolled his eyes, shaking his head hopelessly, his hand going to his forehead.

I couldn't help but quietly chuckle to myself at the misunderstandings. Apparently, I hadn't been as quiet as I thought, for they all glanced at me with varying looks on their faces.

James looked confused.  
Sirius raised an eyebrow.  
Lily furrowed her eyebrows at me.  
Remus and Frank only looked surprised I had made a sound.

"This is ridiculous," Lily said after a second. "To think I expected Potter to own up to what he did. I've known him for only two months, but I should know better by now," She gave James a disgusted look. "Come on Alexa, Frank," Lily grabbed my arm and started to pull me along with her, motioning for Frank to follow. "We shouldn't even associate with people like them, much less try to reason with them." Her voice had taken on a superior tone, and she lifted her head high as she stalked off.

Unfortunately, we were all headed in the same direction; Herbology Class. As we walked, we could hear whispers and sniggers from behind us.

As we neared the entrance to Herbology, James, Sirius, Peter and a reluctant Remus who gave us an apologetic look ran ahead of us, forming a barricade that blocked us from getting ahead of them. They walk extremely slow so that we had to follow at the same pace. Lily looked like she might shove them out of the way, but held herself back, choosing instead to talk about them as if they weren't there in a degrading way.

As we entered the greenhouse to Herbology, Professor Sprout gave us all disapproving looks. All the students who were already there turned to look at us.

It was like my first week here all over again. Arriving late and getting that disapproving look from the professor, all heads in the class turning in your direction.

"You've missed nearly half the class," Professor sprout put her hands on her hips. "Ten points each will be deducted from Gryffindor."

"But professor," Lily started.

"No buts," she said, " Honestly Miss Evans, I expected more from you. Go stand over there," she pointed to a row of brown looking plants. "You're all supposed to separate the plants. If you had been here, you would know how. As it is, you'll have to do your best."

We went to the plants and started to separate them. Well, we tried to anyway. They clung to each other and refused to let go, and only Remus was able to get his to let go of each other.

After class was over, I started to make my way to the Gryffindor Common room.

Frank had gone to talk to James, so I was all alone. I was thinking the events of the day when I heard running footsteps behind me.

"Wait up!" I heard someone say. I looked behind me to find Lily smiling at me.

"I never said thank you," Lily said, catching up with me and slowing her stride to match mine.

"For what?" I asked.

"You know, stepping in and trying to help," Lily stopped at the Fat Lady portrait and said the password.

"Oh, you're welcome. I mean, anyone would've done the same," I said awkwardly.

"No, they wouldn't have. People here worship Potter," She said in a annoyed and disgusted tone. "I don't know why, but they do. Most would've taken no side or his side."

I didn't know what to say to this, so I remained silent.

"Well," Lily said as I started to walk up the stairs leading to our dormitory. "I have to go meat Severus in the library. See you later?"

"Uh, sure?" I said, unsure what she meant by that. Did she mean that she would see me later and we would become friends? Or did she mean that she would see me later because we lived in the same dormitory?

She waved goodbye as she hurried off to the library.

I lay in my bed that night thinking about the day.

Two people had talked to me. Mathew and Lily. But, did they want to be friends? Or were they only being polite?

Eventually, I drifted off to sleep.

 **So, I messed up... I forgot to add two chapters. I skipped Halloween and went straight to Christmas. So, Instead of publishing chapter 8 this week, I'm going to post chapter 5, the "REAL" chapter 5. And next week, I'll post chapter 6. Then I'll get back to where I was, which will then be chapter 10. I'll need to rename all the chapters too. *Sigh...***

 **So please forgive me everyone who is currantly reading this for taking you all back in the story, and probably confusing you. I hope you enjoy this chapter though! For everyone that starts to read this AFTER I WROTE THIS CHAPTER, hopefully, you didn't read the chapters in the order I posted them, and went straight to this chapter after chapter 4.**

 **Thank you so much, everyone,, who has hearted this story! Thank you to everyone who continues to read it! :D It really means a lot!**

 **And a BIG thank you to my followers:** ** _The Storyteller, JamesPotter'sLove, HPFanz, Lizzy, Crepuscular Ember, jellyfish11, IronRose, SlytherinWolff, itsErika, and Nubian Princess_** **! Thank you so much for liking this story enough to follow it! :D**


	6. First Year, Part 6 (The Haunted House)

Saturday passed by quickly, and before I knew it, I was waking up to Sunday. The sky only just starting to brighten outside. It must've been five or six in the morning.

I dressed quietly, careful not to wake any of the girls and went straight down to breakfast.

As I neared the Great Hall doors, I noticed a large crate outside the doors.

As much as I wanted to look at the costumes, I needed to get breakfast first. I was starving.

Sighing, I pushed open the doors and went to sit at the Gryffindor table.

The whole hall smelled like baked pumpkin and cinnamon. There were only a few students awake, and they were mostly Ravenclaw. There were no Gryffindors, I noticed. If I hurried and ate, maybe I could get to the costumes before anyone else.

I shoveled down eggs and toast and drank a large glass of pumpkin juice. When I finished, I hurried to the crate full of costumes.

I wasn't sure what kind of costume I was looking for as I dug around them, but stopped when I came across a pirate costume.

The pirate costume had a black eyepatch, a sword, a red bandana, high black boots, and it even had a fake wooden leg with it. I wouldn't need that, though.

There was one problem with the pirate costume. It was meant for a boy.

After rummaging around the crate some more, I could only find two other pirate costumes. Only one was a girl's one, but it was meant for a much older girl. Maybe I could adjust it.

Then I had a thought. Who said I couldn't go dressed up as a boy?  
A series of thoughts went through my head at that moment; I could put a beard on my face, covering it more than just an eyepatch would. No one would guess who I was. Unless I talked, then they would know I was a girl. But, maybe I could find a spell to charm my voice, so it was more like that of a boy. I could also make my hair look different.

I tucked the costume under my arm and hurried back to my dormitory, I hid it under my bed and then went straight to the library.

I needed to find the spells required for changing the costume a bit and a voice deepening spell.

There were only a few Ravenclaws in the library. They glanced up as I went by, watching me go.

After only a few minutes of scanning the shelves, I discovered the two books I was looking for and I sat down in one of the red-cushioned chairs. I browsed through the books until I found the spell I needed.

I jotted down the directions to each spell. Folding the paper with the instructions on it, I placed it in my bag.

As I passed the Great Hall on my way back to the dormitory,  
I could see a group of Gryffindors clustered around the crate.

I spotted Frank among them, laughing loudly at something James had just said. The two were fooling around with the costumes. It looked as if they had made up

I made my way up to the girls' dormitory.

Lily Evans and Alice Fortescue were the only ones in the room as I entered. They both glanced up as I entered. Alice smiled slightly in greeting and went back to tying her shoelaces. Lily also smiled, but it was more genuine than Alice's smile had been. I smiled awkwardly back at them both, even though Alice wasn't paying attention.

I made my way over to my bed and lay down.

A moment later, Alice and Lily left for breakfast.

I practiced the spells and the counter spells I would use on myself for the party. By the time I had mastered the spells, it was lunchtime.

As I entered the great hall, I saw students screaming in terror, teachers trying to calm them, and everybody running about in a frenzy.

I was confused and frightened for a moment. Was it death eaters? Voldemort? Was the school being attacked?

Then I spotted a particular group of Gryffindor boys all laughing. Sirius and James were rolling on the ground with laughter, Remus was clutching his stomach as he laughed, and Peter had tears running down his face from laughter.

I sighed in relief when I saw this. I walked over to Frank, one of the few students who wasn't running about screaming. He was looking at his food with a look of disgust.

"So, what did they do this time?" I asked as I sat down. Before Frank could answer, I found out first hand. Spiders. Everywhere. Billions of huge hairy black spiders crawling around.  
They crawled in all the food; they were all over the table and floor. Spiders dangled from the ceiling on webs. They were even crawling on the bench I sat on. How had I not noticed them when I came in?

I didn't scream; I became still as a statue, frozen in terror. My eyes grew wide, and I had trouble breathing. I didn't scream as most people would've. I never screamed. Not in three years. The last time I had screamed in terror was on that night. The night my parents were killed.

"They're harmless," Frank reassured. "Look, they're quite friendly," he showed me, placing a few of the spiders in his hand and petting one with his other hand.

It didn't matter to me that they were harmless, or if they were friendly. It wouldn't matter if they talked, tap danced or sang sweet melodies. They were spiders. Huge spiders.

Suddenly all the spiders vanished. Professor McGonagall stood glowering at the four boys who were still laughing.

She gave them each detention and a long lecture about frightening students and causing mayhem. The four boys nodded their heads in understanding, all wearing matching repentful expressions.  
It didn't take a genius to know they weren't the least bit sorry. They were probably planning the next prank.

The students gradually calmed down and retook their seats. Some sent the four boys angry glares, including Lily Evans.

I could only nibble on a roll. My appetite was completely gone.

"What costume did you get?" I asked Frank as I put butter on the roll I was eating.

"We're not supposed to tell, remember?" Frank asked.

"Yeah, but how am I going to know who you are?" I asked.

Frank seemed to think about it for a moment.

"I don't know, I guess we won't know until the end," he answered after a moment.

As soon as Lunch was over, Frank and I went to explore the castle grounds. We walked around for hours, looking at paintings, doors, and anything that could be a secret passageway. We were so busy talking though that we probably missed any secret passageways.

Before we knew it, it was dinnertime. My stomach growled in hunger.

As we entered the Great Hall, I gasped in awe. Huge pumpkins with ghastly grins carved into their faces floated through the Great Hall. A thousand bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling and flew over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. Lightning cracked throughout the whole room.

Frank and I sat at the Gryffindor table. Suddenly, a huge feast appeared on the long table, as it had at the start-of-term banquet. But this time it's food was different; There were much more sweets. Every kind of candy you could imagine and then some, stuffed pumpkins, goblets of colorful liquids.  
There were orange streamers, fake bats and spider webs, skeleton heads that were enchanted to move their jaws and talk, and all sorts of Halloween-related decorations.

Everyone began to eat at once. I was glad that I hadn't eaten very much at lunch. I was able to try almost all the candies before I started to feel full and a little sick from all of the sweats.

As we neared the end of the feast, there was a loud screeching sound that made all of the students jump in fright. I looked around for the sound. The ghosts of Hogwarts were popping out of the walls and making loud screeching sounds to scare the students. Once the students realized it was just the ghosts, they laughed and applauded. The ghosts bowed dramatically.

Once the feast was over, and everyone was stuffed full to the brim, all the students got up and went to get ready for the party.

I went straight to my dormitory and made sure everything was all ready.

I tried to read to pass the time, but I was too excited. The other girls in the room all talked excitedly the whole time leading up to the party.

The other girls all got dressed in their costumes as it neared time to leave. I waited until all the girls had gone before I got into my costume.

As I cast the Hair-thickening charm on my face, Lily Evans came back. I jumped in surprise as she entered. Her look of surprise upon seeing me told me sh had thought everyone was down in the common room.

"Sorry to scare you," she said. "I forgot my cape," she gestured to the bed where her Red Riding Hood cape still lay.

"It's okay," I said, shrugging. "Just, don't tell anyone it's me. I don't want anyone to know."

She smiled in understanding and put on her red cape.

"I never would've guessed it was you," she surveyed my costume from head to toe. "I can't even recognize you."

"That's the idea," I said, smiling as I put on my boot and strapped my sword on my waist.

"Come on Lily!" I heard Alice call from down the stairs. Lily smiled and rushed off.

I cast an Amplifying Charm on my voice, which had been one of the harder spells to get right, and then went down to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Everybody was in their costumes. I could recognize nobody. Everyone wore masks, even if it didn't go with their costumes.

All of the students were piling out of the room. I followed the crowd to the Hogwarts grounds. Everybody was talking in excited tones as we went.

I managed to work up the courage to talk to one of the costume-clad figures. To my surprise, the girl talked to me. The girl was dressed a devil, with a pitchfork and a red mask covering her face. She had black hair, but it easily could've been a wig. I had no idea who she was. We chatted the whole way, and a few of her friends even joined in the conversation.

As we walked, I could see a large house a short distance away that had not been there earlier. As we neared it, I noticed that there was a graveyard surrounding it. The inside of the house was lit, and I could see some sort of shadow walk past in a few of the windows. The whole house had that creepy vibe to it. It looked like a real haunted house.

The twins, both wearing earsplitting grins on their faces, stood in the entryway, ready to welcome everyone inside. They both wore matching vampire costumes and masks that covered half their faces. The only reason I knew it was the twins was that they had red hair paired with the fact that they were the ones throwing this party, so it would only make sense for them to be greeting everyone.

All of the students tried to jam in at once in excitement but quickly realized that they would need to go in smaller groups to enter through the doorway. The doorway was big, but not that big.

As students entered, I could hear some of them scream. I couldn't see why they screamed from where I stood, but as I entered the crowded house, I figured out the reason.

A white-faced women, with hollow black eyes, sharp pointed teeth, and a long black dress popped out at me from behind the doorway. The girl I was beside let out a high-pitched scream, and then laughed when she realized it was fake. The women went back to wherever she had been hiding, waiting to pop out at the next unexpecting students.

As soon as we entered the house, I could hear creepy music mixed with terrifying sounds playing loudly through the house.  
The inside of the house seemed even larger than it appeared on the outside.

We were in a huge hall, with two long marble staircases leading upstairs. A crackling fire roared in the fireplace. Pumpkins hung everywhere along with a variety of other Halloween decorations. There was a large banner that said 'Happy Birthday Gideon and Fabian Prewett!'

There was a long table with candy and drinks laid out, which most of the students instantly flocked too.

I walked over to the table with the girl I was with. There were more kinds of candy here than there were at the Halloween feast. I picked up a coffin-shaped cupcake and bit into it. The inside was filled with the most delicious cream I had ever tasted.

As soon as all the students were all inside, the doors to the house slammed shut, and the music quieted down. The twins stood by the door.  
Although the music had died down, the house was still filled with creepy sounds. The wind whistled through the house, the floorboards creaked, and the crackle of the fire made the house genuinely seem haunted.

"Now," Gideon said. I knew it was Gideon because of his curly hair. Fabian had darker and straighter hair than Gideon. "Let's get right to it. Are you lot ready for the treasure hunt?"

There was a loud roar of "yes."

"The game we're going to play is simple," Fabian said.

"Inside of each room, there is a small chest," Gideon said.

"Inside of each small chest is a metal puzzle piece and a clue," said Fabian.

"Collect six puzzle pieces, and you'll have the key to the grand treasure chest. Collect six clues, and you'll have the location of the grand treasure chest." Said Gideon.

The two twins kept gon back and forth as they spoke as if they could read each other's minds and knew what the other was going to say next.

"We estimated that at least half of you will want to quit before you've even gotten to the first chest," Fabian said. "Remember, this is a haunted house. It'll take courage, teamwork, loyalty, and a lot of other things to collect all six treasure chests."

"Inside this room," Gideon gestured to a large, red door that had the words "Game room" carved into it. "you'll find games, prizes, and fun to be had. Nothing too scary or challenging."

"If you want to quit the treasure hunt," Fabian continued. "you're more than welcome to come back and have fun in the game room. But be warned, once you enter the game room, your name will be erased from the list, and there will be no going back."

"What list? you ask," Gideon said. "Let me explain. Each of you must be on a team. You can have no more than four, and no less than two in each team. But choose your team carefully. If one of your team members quit, the rest of your team also quits. All you need to do if you want to quit is say "I wish to quit this hunt," and you'll instantly be transported to the game room, along with your whole team. You'll find in each room a rectangle picture frame with numbers in it. The numbers will go down as the game goes on. The numbers represent how many teams are left. This is the list we spoke of."

Fabian took a large timer from his cape.

"You have five minutes to form your team, and then the hunt begins," Fabian set the timer.

All of the students began talking at once.

Some called to friends, wanting them to be on their team but not knowing who or where they were.

The girl I was with formed a team quickly with her three friends, all of whom knew each other.

Spotting Lily among the crowd, I ran over to join her.

"Hey," I said. Lily glanced over at me and smiled.

"Hi A-" she stopped mid-sentence, remembering that I didn't want anyone to know who I was.

"Do you already have a team?" I continued. The girl Lily had been standing with spoke up.

"Lily and I are the only ones so far," she said. I recognized her voice and costume. It was Alice Fortescue.

"Can I join?" I asked.

Alice looked at me skeptically. She didn't know me and didn't know if I could handle the treasure hunt. But before Alice had a chance to say anything, Lily spoke.

"Of course," Lily grinned. "You can help us beat James Potter and Sirius Black at this game. That will show them," She said, glaring over at a group of four boys who were jumping about like excited four-year-olds. I immediately knew who they were.

"Well, I-" Alice started to say but was interrupted by a boy, who was also dressed as a pirate.

"Nice costume," he said, looking at me. "My code name's Jugson. Can I join your guys' team?"

"As long as you won't quit in the middle of the game," Alice said. "And what's a code name?"

"I won't," Jugson reassured. "A code name is, you know, a fake name. We're not supposed to reveal our identities until the end, you know."

"Good thinking," Lily said. "My code name will be Lills, then."

"Mine will be Jhon," I said.

"Well," Alice looked a little uncertain. "I guess mine can be Ally."

Just then, the timer went off.

"Let the game began!" Both of the twins said in chorus.

 **Okay, so there's actually going to be three chapters, not two, for the Halloween season in this story. I had a really hard time not making it have to be four chapter! I really want to just get on with chapter 11.**

 **I've given up all hope of this only being a ten-chapter book. It'll probably end up being at least 20. But, I've decided not to limit myself like that. By trying to tell this story in only ten chapters, I actually didn't write it as well. I'm still going to TRY to keep each chapter around 2,000-3,000 words long. The next chapter MIGHT be a bit longer though... We'll see.**

 **On a brighter note, I finally made a cover for this book! I really like it. I made the cover, accidentally deleted it, and had to remake the whole thing. What do you guys think about the cover? Comment below and let me know. I hope you all like it! :)**


	7. First Year, Part 7 (The Hunt Begins)

All of the students scrambled off in different directions.

"Let's go this way," Lily said, pointing at a door to our right labeled 'Music Room.'

When Lily opened the door, a dark figure jumped into view.  
The figure didn't look human. It wore all black, it looked like an old woman, but she had greyish skin, and her eyes were completely black. She had long, bloody scratches running down her face. It wasn't like the thing that popped out at us when we entered the house. It wasn't fake.

Lily, jumped back in surprise, looking up at the thing in horror.

Alice and I froze with fear. The boy, Jugson, reacted by punching at the thing. The old women opened her mouth to reveal a billion tiny pointed teeth. The thing had no tongue. Where her tongue should've been, there were only teeth. Her mouth opened so wide that her jaw went down to her chest.

Jugson's fist went straight into her mouth. Alice reacted at lightning fast speed and shoved Jugson out of the way. The women's sharp teeth just scraped against his skin.

"This isn't a joke," Lily's eyes were wide in fear. "This thing will hurt us."

The thing let out a loud screech of fury and lunged toward Lily, who screamed in terror.

Snapping out of my frozen state, I reached for my wand. In one quick motion, I cast the Tripping Jinx at the girl. It worked, but only for a moment. The girl was back up in a second, and her attention was focused on me now. It lunged toward me, wrapping its long bony fingers around my neck. It squeezed hard, and I felt my vision blur. A moment later it was knocked away. I gasped, chocking.

"Okay," Alice said in a calm, controlled voice. She had her wand pointed at the women. "One of us have to find the chest while the others distract this thing."

The women lunged at me again, but Lily sent a quick Leg Locking Curse it's way. All of the spells we used only seemed to work for a few seconds on this thing.

This time when the women recovered, instead of lunging at us, she jumped up. It clung to the ceiling like a spider, its head twisted at an odd angle, watching us with black eyes.

"Jhon, you look for the chest," Alice said. It took me a moment to realize she was speaking to me. I felt glad that it wasn't me who had to make the decisions in this situation and was grateful Alice was taking charge.

"Okay," I agreed.

I glanced around the room, looking for any small chest. It was the first time I was able to take in our surroundings. There were musical instruments everywhere. Hanging on the wall was a large rectangular picture frame. It was the list the twins spoke of. The numbers inside were 25. It changed to 24 as I looked at it. Somewhere in this house, a team had quit. I wondered how many teams there had been in the beginning.

There were many spots the chest could be hidden, but I went straight toward the piano. It stood out more than anything else in the room, and it was in the very center. Moonlight from outside shone on the dusty piano; All that had to mean something.

The thing on the ceiling hissed at me, and I paused.

"Keep going," Lily said reassuringly. Her eyes were fixed on the creature. "We've got your back."

"Hurry," Jugson said.

I ran towards the piano, trusting that the others would protect me. I heard the thing screech, and my team casting spell after spell on the thing, keeping it away from me.

The creature's angry screams were becoming louder and louder. It knocked Jugson across the room with an unnatural amount of force. Jugson fell to the floor, cradling his shoulder that had hit the wall hard.

As I was about to reach the piano, I was suddenly yanked down to the floor. I gasped and looked down. Two hands grasped my ankle. They had come up from the floorboards. It squeezed my ankle with such force I knew I would have a bruise. The hand that squeezed my wooden leg didn't hurt at all.

I yanked my legs away, but the hand held tight. It started to pull me down, down into the floor with it.

Grasping for my wand that had fallen out of my pocket, I seized it and pointed it at the hand. I cast a Body-Binding Spell, and the hand stopped pulling me, frozen. I pried it's paralyzed fingers off my ankles, which now had fingernail marks on the real leg and it and was swollen red. I let out a wince of pain as I stood up, and put all my weight on my wooden leg that hadn't been injured. As soon as I had stood up though, I had to duck. The old women came lunging right at me out of nowhere, and I just missed her outstretched arms.

Lily and Alice were struggling to get up from the floor. Alice had a bloody bite mark on her arm but wasn't paying attention to it. She cast another spell at the creature, causing it to go flying across the room, away from me.

Remembering my task, I continued to the piano. I pulled opened its lid, and a dozen bats flew at my face. I batted them away impatiently and glanced inside the piano. Inside the piano, sat a small black chest. It was the size of my fist.

Grabbing it, I slammed the piano shut. I whirled around and ran over to Jugson, who was trying to stand back up. I wrapped my arm around his waist to help him stand, and we both made our way to the door.

"Come on," I yelled to Lily and Alice, who were both facing the creature. "I've got it, let's go!"

Casting a few spells behind them at the creature, the two girls ran over to us.

Before slamming the door closed, I looked at the wall that had the rectangular picture frame hanging from it. It now had the numbers 16 on it. Nine teams had quit since we had been in this one room. I didn't blame them one bit if all the rooms were anything like this one.

Alice had a bitemark that was oozing blood on her arm; Lily had a small bump on her forehead, Jugson had a scrap on his knuckles where the thing had tried to bite him and a gash on the back of his head. My ankle was swollen and bruised, with bloody little fingernail marks etched into the skin.

I made a quick process of healing all the minor wounds that I could. Besides a scab or two, we were almost as good as new.

I showed them the little box I had been clutching tightly.

"Open it," Lily said excitedly.

Inside the chest was a little piece of metal, shaped like a puzzle piece. There was a small folded up piece of paper as well. Alice took the paper out and read it aloud.

"It says," Alice started, "You've found a black chest, but you still need five more, you need the color red next, you'll find it on the third floor."

"Right," Lily said. She eyed the long marble staircase wearily. "Just be careful going up there. I saw a few people fall straight through."

We climbed the steps carefully, making sure to test each step first. As we reached the second floor, I could hear screaming coming from a few of the rooms.

Down the dark hallway, I could see a small girl standing under a dim light, holding a teddy bear. For a moment, I thought she was one of the students. But when she looked up, I saw I was mistaken.

Where her eyeballs should be, worms crawled in their place. Her mouth wasn't a mouth at all. It was a stitched line. Her skin was the color of paper, to pale to be human. I noticed blotches of dark blood on her nightgown. The teddy bear's head rolled to the side, a few strings attaching it to the body.

The girl didn't do anything, just stood there.

We made our way up the second staircase that led to the next floor. The third floor had a long dark hallway with peeling wallpaper. A single light hung from the ceiling at the end of the hallway. The lightbulb was dim and kept flickering. There were two doors each on both sides of the hallway, and one door at the very end. One of the doors on the left was boarded up.

"There are five rooms," Said Alice. "Which one has the red chest in it?"

"The note just said the chest is on the third floor," I said. "I suppose they all must have a red chest."

Just then, the flickering light at the end of the hall went out, making the hallway pitch-black.

"Okay," I said nervously. "Let's go into the closest room."

We began to walk down the hall, feeling along the walls and sticking close together.

"This all feels so real," Lily said as we walked. "I am terrified, even though this is supposed to only be a game."

"A game maybe," Alice said. "But it's a dangerous game. The things in this house want to harm us."

I felt the first door and grasped the handle. Someone grabbed my wrist, pulling my hand away from the door.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"What is who doing?" Jugson asked right next to my ear. He was right beside me.

"Let go of my hand," I tugged away from whoever had my wrist and they let go.

"Jhon," Jugson said hesitantly. "I didn't touch you."

"Neither did I," Alices and Lily said simultaneously.

I felt a chill go through me. If it wasn't any of my team, who had grabbed my hand?

"Let's go to the next door," I said, quickly scrambling to get away from that door.

We came to the next door, but this time I didn't try to open it.

"I'm going to open the door now," Lily said, "Be ready for anything."

In the darkness, I could see the door slowly open.

There were no lights in the bedroom, but the light from the bright moon that shone through the window cast enough light to see the room.

Like the walls in the hallway, the wallpaper in the room was peeling and old.

There were three windows, all of which were open. Thin, billowing, white curtains reminded me of ghosts. The room had a single bed in it, a bedstand and a small dresser. On the wall beside the bed hung two black and white pictures of a boy and girl on either side.

The rectangle picture frame hung right above the bed. The number was 13.

The room was freezing. Everything was black or white. Everything except one thing that is. A small red chest sat in the middle of the bed, looking very out of place in this room.

I looked around, waiting for something to pop out at us. Nothing happened.

I walked to the bed and snatched the red chest. I waited, but nothing happened.

"It can't be that easy," I heard Jugson say from behind me.

"Let's get out of here before something bad happens," I walked quickly back to the doorway where the others had remained.

We all piled out into the dark hallway, shutting the door behind us.

We walked back the staircase that led back to the second floor when the single light at the end of the hall flickered back on. The hallway was once again lit dimly.

"Where's Jugson," Lily said suddenly, looking alarmed, she turned in a circle.

I looked around us. Only Lily, Alice and I stood in the hallway.

"Jugson!" Alice called. No answer.

"Oh no," Lily said. "He must still be in the room."

We made our way back to the room and opened it. At least we tried to. The handle wouldn't budge. We pounded on the door, calling out Jugson's name. There wasn't a sound from within the room.

After a moment of pounding on the door and trying to open it, I remembered our wands. I pointed my wand at the door and cast the Unlocking Charm. We tried the door again, but it still wouldn't budge. It must not be locked. Either something on the other side was holding it, or it was stuck somehow.

"What do we do?" I asked hopelessly.

"Well," Alice said. "We're all still here, so Jugson must not be in so much danger that he would quit."

"But he might be unconscious," Lily argued. "Or maybe he can't speak, that's why he won't answer when we call."

"I think we should hurry and go find the other chests," Alice said. "There's nothing else we can do. The longer we stand here trying to get in, the longer Jugson has to be in there."

"Maybe we should just quit," I suggested.

"No," Lily and Alice said together.

"I'm sure that nothing bad will happen to Jugson," Alice assured. "The twins wouldn't make it so people physically couldn't speak to say they quit. This is probably all just part of the game. A scare tactic to make us quick. They're testing our strength."

"You're probably right," Lily said. "I say we go on. Jugson will be alright."

Alice and Lily began to walk away from the door.

I had two options. I could abandon Jugson, my teammate. Or I could let Alice and Lily down. As much as I hated the thought of making my team lose, I couldn't leave Jugson in the room, alone.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I can't just leave him. He might be truly hurt in there."

Lily and Alice looked back at me.

"Don't you dare quit," Lily said urgently, seeing the resigned look on my face.

"I'm sorry," I said again. I looked at Lily and Alice, who both were looking at me in disappointment. We had come all this way, only to have one of us quit.

After a moment of shocked silence, Lily stepped forward. She sighed.

"You're right, Jhon," Lily said. "We can't leave him. No prize or glory is worth leaving a friend, well, a teammate I suppose. I don't even know him. But a team sticks together."

After a long moment of hesitation, Alice stepped back toward the door.

"Alright," Alice said. "We'll all quit at once. Ready? On three."

All at once, we started to say the words that would transfer all four of us back downstairs.

"I wish to qui-"

Suddenly, the door banged open. We all jumped back in alarm.

In the room, Jugson sat on the small bed, jumping up in surprise when the door opened. We all stood, frozen for a moment before Jugson ran over to us.

"Why didn't you guys come back?" Jugson asked accusingly. "I called and pounded on the door."

"We didn't hear you," Lily said, still a little shocked. "We kept calling you. You wouldn't answer. What happened?"

"I'm not sure," Jugson said. "As we were leaving, I stopped for a moment to look at the pictures on the wall. I could swear one of them moved. When I turned back, you guys were just closing the door. I called for you to wait, but you didn't seem to hear me. I tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. So I decided to wait for you guys to notice I wasn't there." A frightened expression passed over his face. "Something else was in that room with me."

"What? Who did you see?" I asked.

"I didn't see anything. I just, sensed a dark presence, you know?" Jugson said.

"Let's get out of here. This hallway is giving me the chills," Alice said.

We made our way back to the stairs and sat down.

Inside the red chest, there was another small metal puzzle piece.

Lily put the two puzzle pieces together. They molded together. Lily placed the puzzle pieces that were beginning to form a key safely into her pocket.

There was another note in the box, and Lily read it out loud.

"Two treasure chests down, but four are still absent; there's no need to frown, You'll find the next in the basement." Lily let out a heavy sigh after reading this. "I hate basements. Mine has always creeped me out, and mine isn't even haunted."

We made our way back down to the main room. People were eating from the long tables, and I could hear laughter and music coming from the game room. I gave the candy and game room a longing look before I followed the others through a door labeled 'Basement.'

We walked down the long, dark staircase that led down into the basement.

As we reached the bottom, I could see the rectangle picture frame hanging on the wall. Its numbers were 9.

"This used to be a torture chamber," I said as we began to walk around.

"Look at this basement," Lily turned in a full circle. "It's huge. There's no way we're going to be able to find the chest in here. It'll take forever."

"We have to split up," Alice said. She didn't sound like she wanted to.

"No, absolutely not," Lily said turning pale at the thought. "You know there's something probably down here."

"We need to go in four different directions," I said. "It's the only way we're ever going to find it."

"I know you're right," Lily said. "But I don't want to."

"You need to be brave Lily," Alice said. "We all need to be. If anything happens, call, and we'll all come running."

"Besides," I added, "If anything does happen, we can always quit if it gets too bad."

Quitting was the last thing any of us wanted to do. Maybe it was the Gryffindor in me, but I didn't want to lose. Deep down, I wanted nothing more than too beat everybody else at this treasure hunt. To show them I could be every bit as Gryffindor as they were. I wanted to be acknowledged as a something other than a freak.  
I shouldn't care who won. I shouldn't care about proving myself. I should care about being safe over glory. But the feelings I had at the thought of quitting were undeniably there.

We separated and began to search the entire basement. The basement was most certainly haunted. The chains on the walls rattled, things kept moving around in the basement, the lights flickered, and I could hear distant cries. Cries of the long ago tortured. At one point, I saw what looked like a tall, dark figure duck behind a stretching torture device.

I came across a part where there were metal bars on the floor. I looked down and discovered there was a cage-looking thing. As I bent down to look closer, I could see two glowing eyes looking up at me. I muttered the Lumos charm and pointed the light down. There was nothing there. Nothing but a rope with a noose at the end hanging from one of the metal bars.

I don't know how long we had been searching when I heard Lily call out from close by. It wasn't a cry for help, but a cry of victory. I ran in her direction. When I reached her, I saw that Lily had a small green chest in her hand. Jugson and Alice were already there.

Wasting no time, we made our way back up the dark staircase, into the light of the main room. There were more students by the candy now, and a few glanced over at us as we came back up.

"That one seemed pretty easy, compared to the others," Alice said, glancing around to make sure we were all there.

We sat at the bottom of the stairs and opened the green chest.  
Lily took the puzzle piece and connected it with the rest of the key.

I took out the note and read it.

"You passed the test, but you still have to pass three more, to find the next chest, go to the place where you eat dinner." I glanced over to one of the doors that I had seen when we first came in. "It means the dining room," I said, gesturing to the door labeled 'Dining Room.'

"What test is it talking about?" Alice asked. "We didn't pass any test; we just found the box. We didn't even come across anything that tried to attack us."

"Let's go," Jugson said, standing and heading towards the dining room.

As Jugson pushed open the door to the dining room, he froze. I stepped into the room to see what he was staring at; There were cobwebs everywhere. Seated at the long table were people. The people, I realized after a moment, weren't ordinary people. They were dead. Their skin was a deathly white, and their flesh had been eaten away enough to see the bone in some spots. Maggots crawled all over them.  
There was a terrible stench in the room, a combination of rotten food and the smell of death.

"I really hope they aren't real," Lily said. She looked sick.

"Of course they're not," Said Alice. "They wouldn't have real dead people in here. Come on; we need to find the chest."

We followed Alice as she stepped closer to the table. The table was covered in rotting food, mold growing everywhere.

I noticed the rectangle picture frame hung on the table. Its number was 6. There were only six teams left.

"Where could the chest be?" I asked, looking around the room.

"Just a theory," Jugson said, "but I think the chest will be either in the food or on, maybe even in, the dead people."

"That's disgusting!" Lily looked like she was going to be sick. "How are we supposed to get it?"

Taking a deep, resigned breath, Jugson began to pat one of the dead people. He emptied its pockets, only to find a few coins and a flask. Lily looked incredulous.

"Come on," Jugson moved on to another person and began to pat it again. "Start looking."

Lily lightly touched one of the dead people, and then jumped back, as if she expected the person to punish her for touching it. When it didn't, she imitated Jugson and began patting and feeling the dead person in hopes of feeling a box somewhere on it.

Alice and I glanced at each other and then began to search.

Lily lasted for about a minute before she threw up from the horrid stench. Jugson dry retched, but nothing came out.

In a matter of minutes, we had searched all the people seated at the table. Nothing.

"Well," Jugson said. "I guess that means we have to move on to the food."

"What are we supposed to do with it?" Lily asked. She had slowly made her way back to the table after having puked up all the contents she had eaten that day.

"We'll have to dig through it," I answered.

"What? With our hands?" Lily looked like she was going to throw up again at the thought.

I looked at the bowls and dishes filled with rotten food. Some of the food had maggots crawling all over it.

"Yes, unless you have a better idea," I said.

"I do," Alice volunteered. "We can just dump the food somewhere. We don't need to touch it that way." She stepped forward and picked up a bowl of thick liquid. Well, she tried to pick it up. It didn't budge.

"Looks like it's stuck to the table," Alice said in disappointment. In one quick motion, Alice stuck her hands in the bowl, feeling around. "Nope, not in here." She withdrew her hands, which were now covered in foul-smelling slime and a few crawling maggots.

If Lily or anyone else had thought that she had puked up everything in her stomach, they were wrong. Lily began to retch and turned away to puke.

I stepped forward and looked at the food before me. I decided to start with the least disgusting thing first. It was an old, dry cake, with furry mold all over it. I reached in and began to break it into chunks. Its odor drifted up into my nose, and I gagged. There was nothing inside the cake.

I began to move on to another dish, a dish of what looked to be some sort of pie when Jugson cried out in delight.

"I found it!" Jugson held a small brown chest in his hand. He stood over a bowl of rotten chunks of meat in it. The chest was covered in bits of meat and maggots, but Jugson was so excited he didn't seem to notice.

"Great," Lily said. "Let's go. Now." She staggered to her feet and stumbled out of the room. This time, the door opened easily.

As soon as we were out of the dining room, I took a deep breath. I had never appreciated fresh air as much as I did at that moment.

Jugson immediately opened the chest.

Lily cast a scouring charm on herself, even though she had only touched one of the dead people.  
Taking out my wand, I cast one on myself as well, and I cast one on Jugson and the chest that was still covered in maggots and meat. Jugson didn't seem even to notice. He was too busy taking out the next part of the key and the folded note that was inside the chest.  
He handed the puzzle piece of the key to Lily, who connected it to the rest. Jugson unfolded the paper and began to read.

"Time is running out; you'll need to be quick, the next chest no doubt, is in the attic." Jugson read from the note.

 **So, I failed at making this chapter only 3,000 words. I hope that's okay! The next chapter will probably be longer too. Who else thinks I obsess over the lengthiness of each chapter too much? I think I'm going to stop worrying about it being too long, and just make it at least 2,000 words. Who agrees?**

 **Wow! Looking at all these small treasure chests to put in for the image has got me really wanting one! I think I might buy one on Amazon. The only problem is that I can't decide which one I like best! They have so many! I've narrowed it down to SEVEN that I really want.. I'm having difficulty choosing between all of these small treasure chests:**

 **The Black Chest:** /2zh8qKf

 **The Brown Chest:** /2xzyq1g

 **The Map Chest:** /2yhpBgf

 **4 Cool-Looking Chests:** /2gcxcX9 /2kHqrOw /2zgEuhd /2yhkyMN

 **Which of these chests do you guys think looks the best? I really like the dragon one, but it's a bit expensive, lol :)**


	8. First Year, Part 8 (The Grand Prize)

"Wait, we're being timed?" Alice asked. "The twins said nothing about being timed."

"Maybe it means that if we don't hurry, the other teams might find all six chests before us," I said, standing up.

"But where is the attic?" Lily asked as we began to make our way upstairs.

"It's at the end of the hallway," Jugson said. "The one with that creepy little girl standing at the end. I saw a door above her head."

As we reached the second floor, I could see no sign of the little girl who had been standing there before. Just as Jugson had said, there was indeed a door in the ceiling. We ran over to it.

Jugson tugged on the rope that hung from the door. The door flung open, and a set of rope stairs fell down. Jugson climbed up to the attic first. We followed him and reached the top one by one.

I gasped in surprise when I reached the top. It wasn't like any attic I had ever seen. It had mirrors everywhere; even the walls were mirrors. The black and red tiled floor made me feel slightly dizzy.  
It looked as if there were a hundred of us standing in the attic. If it weren't for the fact that I knew I was standing next to my team, I wouldn't be able to tell the mirror images from the actual people. There were no lights I could see in the attic, but it was bright none the less. A small rectangle hung on the wall. It had the number 5 on it. There were only five teams left.

Right on the floor, there was a small blue chest.

"Well this is easy," Lily said, stepping towards the chest.  
Lily made a grab for the chest, but her hand closed over nothing.

I turned in a circle. All around me I could see the little blue chest on the floor. Its reflection in all the mirrors made it appear as if it was right there.

Suddenly, Lily let out a loud scream. Her reflection in one of the mirrors had moved, not the same motion as Lily, but as if it were a different person. It had grabbed hold of Lily from behind and was now pulling her into the mirror.  
I reached out, trying to grab hold of Lily to pull her back. My arm only felt a mirror as I tried to grab Lily's arm. The other Lily pulled our Lily into the mirror, and all around us in the mirror's reflections, Lily screamed, pounding her fists against the mirrors.

"Let me out! Help!" She screamed, over and over.

"Lily," Alice yelled over Lily's panicked screams. "Calm down. Take a deep breath. Maybe if we can get the chest, the mirror will free you."

Suddenly, another person came into view. All around me I could see Alice, Lily, Jugson, myself, and now there was a small girl in all of the mirrors, surrounding me. I recognized her as the girl with the teddy bear we had seen on our way to the third floor.

It looked like she was standing right next to me, but I knew it was probably just the mirror reflection.

"You're right, Alice dear," the voice that came out of the girl's mouth didn't sound like a little girl at all. It barely sounded human.

I wondered how she knew Alice's name.

"Find the chest, and Lily will be free," the girl said. "But, if you can't find the chest before the time runs out, Lily's mine forever. Better hurry, time's running out." The little girl placed an hourglass on the floor. It's sand streamed through the middle at an alarming speed; the top was emptying too fast. The girl began to cackle. The sound echoed through the attic and went on and on. The noise could drive a person crazy.

Wasting no time, we all began to grab at the blue chests that were all around us. Every time we reached for it though, we only came in contact with a mirror. The hourglass was already half empty, and it had been less than thirty seconds. Maybe that's what the clue had meant when it said time was running out. It was telling us that our next task would be timed.

"Quick!" Alice shouted. Although it looked like a hundred Alices were standing right next to me, her voice came from across the room, not near me. "We need to break the mirrors so they won't reflect the chest. That way we can see where the actual chest is."

From across the room, I heard a mirror shatter. I looked over and could see Alice standing in its outline. I knew it was the real Alice because she stood where the mirror had been so it couldn't be a reflection.

Following her example, Jugson and I began to rapidly kick mirror after mirror, breaking them into a hundred pieces.

I looked at the timer and could see the last grains of sand falling to the bottom. I felt a wave of disappointment and fear run through me.

"I found it!" Alice exclaimed happily. As soon as I heard her say this, every last mirror shattered, leaving only the four of us and the little girl standing in the room. The girl had stopped her mad cackles and now glared over at Alice, who held the small blue chest triumphantly in her hands.

"You," The girl said, pointing an accusing finger at Alice. Before any of us knew what was happening, the little girl jumped onto Alice, clinging to her with her arms and legs. She opened her mouth and bit down hard on Alice's shoulder. Alice screamed and tried to pry the girl off of her, but the girl didn't let go.

I pointed my wand at the girl and cast the Knockback Jinx. The girl went flying across the room and hit the wall, hard. She slid to the floor, leaving a trail of blood where her head had smashed against the wall. She lay still, unmoving.

Had I killed her? I felt sick at the thought.

"Quick," Lily rushed to the door.

We didn't need her to finish to know to follow her. We all scrambled down the rope latter. I glanced over my shoulder as I climbed down after the others. The girl was moving, starting to get up, and I felt relieved I hadn't killed her. I spotted the rectangle picture frame hanging on the wall. The number was 3.

No sooner had I reached the bottom than the little girl above us began to scream in rage. I could hear little feet running towards us.

We all darted over to the stairs, away from the attic. We made it to the stairs just as the girl jumped down from the attic and ran down at full speed. The little girl didn't follow us.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we all sat down to catch our breaths.

I looked down at Alice's shoulder. It wasn't bad, but there were bite marks on her skin, and it was bleeding slightly. I pointed my wand at her shoulder and muttered a healing charm.

"Thank you," Alice said as her shoulder wound vanished.

Alice opened the small green chest in her lap and took the puzzle piece out and the short note. Handing the puzzle piece to Lily, she began to read the little note.

"Go outside, look underground, in the place Agibel lies, there the last chess can be found" Read Alice.

"The graveyard," Jugson said. "We need to find a tombstone with the name Abigail on it and dig it up."

Without asking any questions, we quickly made our way to the main doors. Alice opened them, and we all stepped out into the cold night. The bright moon above lit the graveyard, and in the moonlight, I could see six dark figures walking around the graveyard, their wands lit and pointed at the tombstones.

"We're the last three teams," I said, realizing what this meant. "That means whichever team finds the tombstone first, wins."

Four of the dark figures had stopped for a moment when they spotted us. I squinted, and could slightly make out their costumes. If I wasn't mistaking, there was a death reaper, a clown, a skeleton, and a ninja. I recognized them from earlier and remembered who they were. Lily seemed to realize at the same moment I had who they were.

"Potter," She gasped. "It's Potter's team. Quick, start looking." Lily wasted no time. She ran down the steps and lit her wand. Pointing it at tombstone after tombstone, frantically looking for the right one. James Potter and the others boys in his team continued to search. The group of two also searched the gravestones, wands lit.

I muttered Lumos Charm and pointed my wand at a near tombstone. I didn't bother looking at the dates they had died; I just looked at the names.

"Edward," I muttered under my breath as I searched the tombstones. "Neil, Jane, Carry," I went from tombstone to tombstone, but none of them I passed had the name Abigail on it.

After a few minutes of searching, a cloud suddenly covered the moon, and it was pitch black besides the light of our wands throughout the yard.

The graveyard was huge, leading all the way to some woods behind the house. There were probably hundreds of tombstones around here. I couldn't see everyone in the graveyard, only the wand light of three people all in different areas. The rest were probably in the woods or on a different side of the house.  
The ten of us were scattered throughout the graveyard, looking frantically for the correct tombstone. I suppose that the team with only two people probably wished they had four right now to help them search.

If I were the twins, where would I place a tombstone with a treasure chest beneath it? I wouldn't put it among all the other ones. I looked around me, scanning for an area with only one tombstone. It was so dark though that I couldn't see much of anything.

As if the moon was reading my thoughts, a small part of it suddenly appeared. It shone down in the graveyard, but then a cloud quickly covered it back up again.

No one else seemed to notice, but I had. The moon had shone on only one area of the graveyard. It had cast its light on a tree. A single tree in the graveyard. That couldn't be a coincidence, could it?

I made my way over to the area it had shone on, not bothering to check the names on the tombstones I passed.

As I reached the tree, I felt disappointed at what I saw. A single swing hung from one of the tree branches, but there were no tombstones in sight.

Before I left, I shone my wand on the swing and gasped in delight. 'Abigail Thorn' was carved in large letters on the piece of wood for the swing, and under the swing was what looked to be a freshly dug hole. I don't know how I hadn't noticed it at first.

I looked at the ground in thought. How was I supposed to dig a hole without a shovel?

I felt a hand on my shoulder and spun around in surprise, my eyes widening in fear. The skeleton boy stood behind me. It was one of the boys from Potter's team, but I didn't know which. Had he realized I had found the chest and planned on getting at it first?

"Sorry," I heard the boy say from behind his mask.

"Remus?" I asked.

"Yeah," He said, "Sorry to frighten you. How do you know who I am?"

"I'm Gryffindor, remember?" I asked. "Everybody knows your group."

"Right," he said awkwardly. "I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed the moon thing," Remus said, glancing at the swing and the freshly dug grave below it.

We both stood there in silence for a moment.

"So," I said after a moment. "Now what?"

"You found it fair and square," Remus said, taking a step back. "It's all yours."

"Really?" I was a little surprised. "You're not going to try to steal it or anything?"

"Of course not," Remus said, "I would never do that." Remus took a step toward the tombstone. "Do you need any help digging it up?"

If it had been any of the other boys, I would've declined.

"Yes, please," I said. "That would be great. Thank you, Remus. How are we supposed to dig it though, without any shovels?"

"With our hands, I suppose," Remus said, dropping down to his knees, he began to claw at the dirt.

After a moment, I dropped down beside him and began to dig as well.

We didn't need to dig long before we came to a small coffin. We pulled it out, surprised at how heavy it was, and opened it. I wasn't very surprised to find a small selection of a girl inside, wearing a faded blue dress. There was also a small chest with a map design on the outside. I opened it to find a puzzle piece and a map.

"This is the map that leads to the grand treasure chest," I said, unfolding it.

Remus glanced at it and stood up.

"Well," he said. "You should get back to your team. James is going to be disappointed you guys won."

"Why?" I asked as I stood up, brushing the dirt off my jeans. "I mean, why James Potter more than the rest?"

"He wanted to beat Lily," Remus said, chuckling a little. "He kept saying we couldn't let Lily Evans win. I don't know why he doesn't want her to win so badly, to be honest."

I glanced down at the map in my hand and sighed resignedly.

"Lily wanted to win James Potter too," I said. "I don't think we should let one of them win. It will only cause more fights between the two because the other won. The one who won will be smug and rub it in the others face, and the one who lost will probably want revenge. You know how those two are. It's probably why they wanted to win each other so badly so that they could rub it in the others face. We can't let one of them win."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked, clearly confused. "You want to give the map to the other team, so neither of our teams wins?" Remus sounded incredulous.

"Well, no, not exactly," I said. "What if both of our teams could win? We could say we both found the map. Which is true, if you think about it."

Remus was speechless for a moment.

"You want James and Lily to win?" Remus asked.

"Yes," I said. "After all, it was just sheer luck that I happened to get to this tree first. We both understood why the moon shone on it, and we were both on our way here. It's only fair both our teams win."

"But," Remus seemed a bit speechless.

"Come on," I said, tugging him in the direction of the lights. "You find your team, and I'll find mine. Then we'll find the grand prize together. Just tell them that we both found the last chest. Which, isn't a lie. We did."

Remus still seemed speechless, but snapped out of and left to get his team. I found all of my teammates, and we all met up in the middle of the graveyard. Neither team seemed to understand why we were all together, and everyone was a bit speechless after we told them we had both found it at the same time.

"Why didn't you snatch it and make a run for it?" The boy in the death reapers costume, who I recognized to be Sirius Black voice, asked Remus incredulously.

"Sirius," Remus sounded chiding. "You know full well that would be unfair."

Sirius seemed about to argue, but I interrupted.

"Let's go find the Grand Treasure Chest, shall we?"

As we followed the map that led us back inside, the whole crowd of Gryffindor students waited inside to congratulate the winning team.

Apparently, once the students got into the game room, they could watch all of the teams on these big screen things. The strange, magical things that reminded me of a muggle camera, but definitely weren't cameras, were set up in every room.  
They were also set up outside, but only on the front porch. The students hadn't seen or heard the exchange between Remus and me, and they didn't know who won.

Everyone was surprised when they heard that both teams had won.

We followed the little map that led into the kitchen area. The students followed behind but weren't able to enter the kitchen when the map led us to it. Only we, the two teams were able to enter. Under the sink, we discovered an enormous treasure chest.

The treasure chest had two keyholes as if it had somehow known that two teams would win.

Lily took out the key and placed it in one keyhole, and James produced the other key.

Upon opening it, we all gasped in delight.

There was a little bit of everything in the chess. Something each of us wanted.

There were books, some very rare, which Lily and Remus quickly claimed.

There was gallons, sickles, and knuts, all wizarding money, which we split between us all evenly. But James and Sirius weren't interested in the money. They were interested in the pranking gadgets. I heard James say something about the pranking items having come from 'Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop' in Diagon Alley, and wondered how the twins had gotten into Diagon Alley.

There were girly accessories, like jewelry and hair items which Lily, Alice and I all split amongst ourselves.

There were Quidditch supplies and Quidditch books, which the boys and Alice took.

There were all different kinds of tea and powdered drink mixes, which most of us split between ourselves.

There were unique writing quills and writing supplies that Remus and Lily found fascinating.

There were all kinds of candy and treats. We were able to stuff our pockets and fill some bags with the sweets, and still, the chests overflowed with more.

There were winter accessories, like gloves, scarfs, hats and some sort of warming bags.

What fascinated me though were the bottles of potions in the chest. There were random potion ingredients, some I noted were quite rare, and there were potions that were already made into something. There were healing potions, pranking potions, love potions, and lots of other ones.  
There was even some polyjuice potion, already made in a small vile. I wondered who it would change you into.

I got hold of as many of the healing potions and ingredients as I could. The boys instantly took anything that had to do with pranking, but I noticed that Remus took also took some healing potions. I wondered if like me; he was also interested in becoming a healer.

By the time we had gone through the whole chest, everybody had something, and there was a bare minimum of arguments about who got what. There was enough stuff in the chest that nobody needed to fight over anything.

We put the prizes from the chest into large bags. The bags had also been in the chest; there were ten of them. The bags were charmed to stay light so that no matter how much stuff we put in them they were still easy to carry.

When we were done going through the chest, all that was left was candy and treats. The boys dragged the chest of the kitchen so all the students outside the doorway could get some candy from it.

After that, the twins loudly congratulated the winning teams, shaking each of our hands and declaring that to win, we had to be true Gryffindors, through and through. They said that we had to be Loyal, Brave, Daring, adventurous, chivalrous, and had to work as a team to win.

I understood a few things then. Like why the bedroom door had opened when I had refused to leave Jugson, well Frank. We had to show loyalty to get it to open.

The twins then announced that it was time to take off the masks. Everybody was supposed to reveal their identity.

The students unmasked their faces, and there were gasps of surprise and laughter as everyone revealed who they were.  
Everyone was particularly interested in seeing who the two teams that had won were. So, one by one we took off our masks.

James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin took their masks off, and James and Sirius bowed to the applauding crowd. The crowd clapped thunderously and clapped them on the back, congratulating them.

My teammates quickly took off their masks too. I watched as Lily and Alice take their masks off, and immediately a group of girls rushed to them, talking excitedly. Jugson took off his mask next, and I gasped in surprise.

It was Frank! Jugson was Frank Longbottom! He cast a counterspell on his voice, and it immediately changed back into his own.

"Frank?" I asked in surprise, a huge smile plastered on my face.

Frank looked at me a bit confused.

"Do I know you?" He asked, scratching his head.

I quickly cast the counterspells and removed my mask as well.

Everyone gasped in surprise, including Frank. The whole hall grew silent. My smile slowly faded.

No one congratulated me like they did the others, everyone seemed shocked I was on the winning team, and it hurt. Whispers began to spread throughout the crowd, and I wanted to disappear into the wall. I didn't though, I held my head high, and started to speak to Frank, pretending the others weren't all gaping at me.

After a moment, the sounds of all the students started back up. A few students congratulated me, including Remus Lupin.

I had never thought that after I had won, they still wouldn't accept me. I had foolishly thought that somehow, someway, everyone would see how normal I was if I won the treasure hunt with the rest of my team. That they would see that I wasn't something to be feared, or looked at funny; that I wasn't a freak, that I wasn't damaged. I had been wrong. It didn't change anything.

"Alexa," Frank said, his mouth still hanging open. "I never would've guessed. I truly thought you were a boy."

I smiled at him.

"I never would've guessed you were Jugson," I said. "your voice was completely different, and you were shorter, and your hair is a different color."

Frank laughed and pulled off his blond wig.

"I guess we both had the same idea," he said. "Dress as a pirate and change some other details."

"I'm so happy we won," I said. "We had the best team."

"Definitely," Frank said, popping a lemon drop from his bag of goodies into his mouth. "Any team that has you and me together is guaranteed to be a winning team."

I smiled at that, and Frank and I looped arms, walking over to the game room.

For the remainder of the night, we played games and ate candy. Towards the end, we all sat in a dark room, listening to others take turns telling scary stories and then screaming, making everyone jump and laugh.

A few of the students did congratulate me, but not most. Alice smiled at me warmly and said she was glad I was on her team.

Although most of the students' view didn't change about me that night, Alice's had. She had been with me the whole time, and that seemed to change how she perceived me.

After that night, Alice no longer thought I was weird, or scary. Although we didn't become best friends or anything, Alice was much nicer to me, she never ignored me or avoided me. She would occasionally invite me to sit with her at meal times when she didn't sit with her friends, or she would sit with Frank and me sometimes.

Lily, Alice and I now were able to have conversations when we were all in our dormitory. There weren't awkward silences between us.

The two other girls in our dormitory didn't participate in any conversations when I was included, but I didn't really mind.

I had thought that maybe Remus Lupin and I would become friends after Halloween night, but besides smiling at me kindly, Remus never tried to talk to me or befriend me.

In fact, I noticed that Remus didn't try to befriend anyone, ever. The only friends he had were James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. I found this quite strange. Many of the students liked Remus Lupin and would've been his friend in an instant. He was one of the nicest boys in the school, and everyone seemed to like him. And yet, he wasn't really friends with anyone besides the three other boys.

Besides Alice talking to me more frequently, me winning the treasure hunt had done nothing for me regarding the other students.

 **There it is! Over 4,000 words. At last. Sorry about it taking so long to post this chapter! I've been sick all week with the flu and allergies and wasn't able to write anything. I still am sick, but not very.**

 **What did you guys think about this chapter? :)**

 **To make up for not posting last Sunday, I've included a drawing of The Marauders you won't find anywhere else. Why? Because I drew it, lol! :) I don't like the way Sirius looks in my drawing. Look at his hair!**

 **I remember drawing that picture. I hadn't thought I could ever draw anything that resembled a boy (I always drew girls, and every time I tried to draw a boy's face, it looked like a girl.) and I decided to pass the time by drawing the Marauders faces on the back of a recipe.  
You can see the letters of the recipe through the other side of the thin paper, and the paper is all dirty from spilled ingredients. Eww. Well anyways, I fully expected them to look like girls. But once I drew the faces, I realized they resembled boys, not girls, and they looked like the Marauders. I decided to finish the drawing that I had planned to throw out when I was done and give them clothes. I spent quite a while on their clothes, because I was serious about the drawing at that point, and wasn't just passing the time. I wish I had decided to draw on cleaner paper, but it was too late. There was no way I would be able to draw another boy face on different paper. Clearly that recipe paper was charmed with good luck. How did I manage to do something I was NEVER able to do before, and with ease?**

 **You see the date on the drawing? I drew that two years ago. I've been in love with The Marauders for more than two years now; Ever since I finished the Harry Potter series. That drawing has been with all my other drawings for two years.**

 **Seriously, they're my favorite fictional characters in the world. I've read so much about them, hundreds of fanfics out there, and I've looked at all the fanart of them on the internet. I know, I'm a total fangirl. Not proud of it. But I can't help it. I LOVE The Marauders! If I'm ever feeling down, merely reading a fanfiction about them puts me in a good mood. Can anybody relate, or is it just me?**

 **I love Harry Potter fanfiction, but 85% of it I've read is from The Marauders Era.**

 **P.S. I can't post the drawing here on . So, here's a link that should (Hopefully work, and lead you to Pinterest. If it doesn't work, just tell me and I'll fix it.) bring you to the drawing: pin/645914771529212665/**


	9. First Year, Part 9 (The Forbidden Forest

It was a Thursday evening, and I sat in the library with Aileen, playing a game of Wizarding Chess.

It would be Christmas in only two more days. Professor McGonagall had come around a few days ago making a list of who would be staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. Most of the students had gone home for the Holidays, but I had opted to stay here. I decided it would be better remain at Hogwarts than to have to go back to Aunt Cora. Aileen was staying too, although I didn't know what her reason was. Maybe, like me, she didn't have the best people in the world waiting for her back home.

Hogwarts seemed so empty with so many of its students gone. I had the dormitory all to myself. The meals were quiet and uneventful, especially with the lack of a certain group of boys who were anything but quiet and well behaved.

The great hall looked so magical, more so than usual, that is. Holly and Mistletoe hung everywhere throughout Hogwarts, and there were more than ten decorated Christmas trees in the Great Hall.  
The grounds of Hogwarts were coved in a sparkling white snow, and some of the students who had remained at Hogwarts were out there right now having snowball fights.

We had finished all the classes for today and Aileen, and I had been sitting in the library playing chess for about an hour.

"Checkmate," Aileen said smirking.

"You cheat," I said, pouting. "How do you manage to win every time?"

"Simple," She responded, tossing her blond hair behind her shoulder. "You see an opportunity, and you seize it, without making sure it's not a trap first. Killing off all your pieces is easy. You need to learn to strategize, Alexa."

"I suppose I don't have the patience required for winning chess," I said, standing up. "Do you wanna go explore the castle?" I asked as we put the chess away. "Since most of the students are away, we have the whole castle to ourselves."

Aileen was quiet for a moment, chewing on her lip thoughtfully.

"I have a better idea," She said slowly, "Since most of the students are gone, it would be easy for us to enter the Forbidden Forest unseen."

I looked up at her, shocked.

"But Dumbledore said-" I started,

"What Dumbledore doesn't know won't kill him," she said rolling her eyes.

"Yeah," I agreed, "But it very well might kill us. You heard what Dumbledore said, Aileen. There are dangerous creatures in the Forbidden Forest. There's a reason it's forbidden, you know."

"Come on Alexa," she said, "we won't go very far. It's light out, and nothing's ever happened before."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.  
"Before? Have you been there before Aileen?" My voice had begun to rise, and Aileen shushed me, glancing around.  
Madam Pince, the very strict librarian, was glaring disapprovingly at us and held a finger to her mouth in warning.

"Look, if you're too afraid then we don't have to go," Aileen reassured me quietly. "But, I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave."

"Fine," I said, sighing. "But we'll need to dress warmly. It's freezing outside."

Aileen smiled, knowing she had won the argument.

"Great," she said, "I'll go get dressed and meet you down here in 10 minutes."

"Okay," I agreed, and we both went to our separate Dormitories to get dressed into warm outfits.

As we walked towards the forest, I glanced at me nervously. I knew we were breaking the rules, and it felt like at any moment someone would catch us. I had become used to sneaking out past curfew, and even going outside at night, as it was the only time that people weren't all around the castle, their horrified or disgusted stairs piercing me. But we would be in more trouble if we were caught in the Forbidden Forest than if we were caught wondering Hogwarts past hours. Aileen didn't seem worried at all.

We passed a few 3rd years, who gave me wide eyed looks and all leaned in whispering to each other. I pretended I hadn't seen them and continued on my way.

Aileen gave them a scary looking glare, and they scampered off in surprise and fright. Even though Aileen was only a First Year, she could frighten older children when she wanted to. Aileen could become quite scary when she wanted to. Most of the students here were afraid of her. There was just something about Aileen that frightened people. A look in her eyes maybe, as if she had seen many bad things before, and a vibe that said to stay away. That was the side of Aileen that most of the students saw. That was the only side that Aileen wanted people to see. It was only her friends that got to see any other side of her.

Like me, Aileen didn't have many friends. But unlike me, it was because she didn't want any. She didn't trust people and saw the bad in them before she saw the good.  
I was a bit too trusting of people, and though I could see the bad in people as soon as they presented me with it, I first saw only good. We were really complete opposites, but somehow that didn't matter to either of us.

"When did you go into the Forbidden Forrest?" I asked her as we neared the Forest. I couldn't help feeling a little hurt that she hadn't asked me to come along with her.

"The first week here at Hogwarts," she answered. "I overheard two other girls in Slytherin debating whether they should go explore the forest, and I offered to go with them. I think they just wanted to defy Dumbledore. "

"Did you guys see anything interesting in the forest?" I asked excitedly.

"Oh, yes," She said, seriously. "The first time we happened upon a massive spider web. The two other girls nearly fainted from fright and ran back to the safety of the Dungeons. They refused to come back again. After that, I went by myself."

"A massive spider web? As in, massive spiders as well? Yeah, I can see the logic not wanting to go back. You've got to be quite brave to go into the Forbidden Forest. You should've been placed in Gryffindor, Aileen. You're a lot braver than I am."

Aileen scowled at me.

"I'm nothing like an arrogant Gryffindor," she spat. There was a venom in her voice that had never been directed at me before, and I stumbled over my own feet in surprise.

"But, Aileen," I said, "I'm a Gryffindor. Y-you don't think I'm arrogant, do you?" I couldn't stop the hurt tone from escaping.

She stopped walking and looked at me. Her scowl vanished, and she smiled slightly.

"So you are, Alexa. But, you seem more like a Hufflepuff than a Gryffindor to me, to be quite honest. And no, you're not at all arrogant. You're not brash or reckless like most Gryffindors either. Although, who knows. Maybe you would be if you had any Gryffindor friends to imitate from."

I knew Aileen didn't say this in a mean way; she was just stating facts. But still, I felt a pang of hurt at the reminder.

"They're not all brash and reckless, you know," I said defensively.

She grunted,  
"Whatever you say, Alexa."

We continued to walk through the snow covered ground in silence.

I didn't know why, but I always felt a need to defend Gryffindor House when ever Aileen criticised it. Although the students in Gryffindor didn't want to befriend me, they were my house. None of the students from any of the houses wanted to be friends with me anyway, so if I was going to defend one, it might as well be the one I was sorted in, even if they weren't the best house to be placed in, in my opinion anyway.

We arrived at the edge of the forest, and I looked behind us, making sure we weren't followed. I noticed our footprints in the snow.

"Aileen, what if someone follows our footprints in the snow and catches us?" I asked with concern.

Aileen looked at the ground as if just noticing our footprints as well.

"Intelligent thinking, Alexa. Maybe you should've been placed in Ravenclaw. Gryffindors are usually dim witted if you ask me." she said.  
She took out her wand and swished it muttering a spell. The footprints in the snow vanished.

"Gryffindors aren't dumb," I said, once again defending Gryffindor. I bent down to tie my shoe lace that had come undone.  
"I mean, just look at Remus Lupin. That boy is one of the smartest students at Hogwarts. And don't forget Lily Evans."

"I suppose they're not all stupid." She conceded. "I guess people like Sirius Black and James Potter give them a bad reputation as being complete and utter morons."

It was no secret that Aileen strongly disliked James Potter and Sirius Black. They embodied everything that Aileen seemed to dislike about Gryffindors so strongly. Prideful, arrogant, loud, reckless, and they liked to think that they were better than everyone else because they were in Gryffindor.  
Although I couldn't picture them as being stupid, I didn't argue with Aileen. They were many things, but not dumb. They acted like two-year-olds at times, but they couldn't truly be stupid if they always got good grades, could they? Besides, I had seen them in class, and when called upon Sirius and James had always performed the spell correctly. It confused me that they always learned what the professors were teaching, despite the fact that they appeared to pay no attention in classes, and fooled around the whole time. Well, except Transfiguration. McGonagall taught Transfiguration, and even they weren't that suicidal.

I finished tying my shoelace and stood up.

"Ready?" Aileen asked.  
I looked at the forest and nodded my head.

We entered the woods, and I looked around. The forest looked like any other forest in the winter. I had expected it to look dark and haunted and was surprised to find it didn't look either dark or haunted. In fact, it looked rather beautiful. Although it was darker in the forest than out of it, the sparkling snow made the forest appear lighter than it normally would've without the snow covering the grounds, and there were pine trees covered in blankets of snow everywhere.

"It's not as scary here as I thought it would be," I said to Aileen. "It's rather enchanting."

"Yeah," she agreed, grabbing onto a tree and swinging in a circle around it. "But once you go deeper, it gets darker and scarier."

"How far are we going?" I asked uncertainly. "You said we wouldn't go very far."

She shrugged.

"Listen, whenever you want to go back, we can," She reassured me. "So stop worrying, and have some fun."

"Right," I said, "Well, in that case then,"  
I bent down and picked up a grab full of snow, hiding it behind my back. Aileen looked back at me suspiciously, I gave her an innocent look, and then threw the snowball at her, hitting her flat in the face. I burst into laughter at her startled expression but stopped when I felt a snow ball she had thrown back enter my open mouth.

Aileen laughed.  
"I got it right in the hole!" She said as she quickly picked up another snow ball to throw at me.

I was quicker than her, and as soon as she stood to throw, I threw a snowball at her, hitting her in the shoulder. She threw one at me, but I ducked out of the way, laughing. I gathered more snow to make a snowball and looked up to throw it at her.

"Catch me if you can!" She called out grinning.

She ran, and I gave chase, picking up snowballs as I ran and threw them at her as I followed her deeper into the forest. My wooden leg stopped me from running full speed, and she easily evaded me, staying just out of reach.

I bent to pick up more snow, but when I looked up, I could see Aileen nowhere.

"Aileen!" I called, alarmed. She had just been there a second ago.

I looked around the forest, which had slowly gotten darker without me realizing it. The trees were different too. There weren't pine trees anymore. The trees here were huge, and their branches looked like bony arms that went every which way. How far had we gone? I could swear I heard sounds all around me, but when I looked there was nothing there.

"Aileen!" I called again, more desperately, my heart pounding hard. I looked at the ground that was covered in snow and spotted her footprints in the snow.

"Over here!" I heard her yell from somewhere ahead. Her voice sounded muffled, and I could barely hear it.  
I sighed in relief as I heard her and ran in the direction of her voice, following her footprints. Her footprints in the snow suddenly disappeared at a tree. I looked around. I couldn't see her anywhere.

"Down here!" I heard her yell below me.

I looked down in surprise but didn't see anything.

"Where?" I asked, positively confused.

"The tree, I'm down here in the tree," she said, her voice labored.

I looked down at the tree I was currently standing beside.  
In between all the roots that the tree had, I could see something like a cliff or hole below. It looked like below this giant tree there was another forest down there.

I let out a surprised gasp as my eyes landed on Aileen sitting on the ground below. She was holding her ankle, and she looked like she was in pain. Her ankle seemed twisted in the wrong direction, and it looked like there was blood staining her white fur boot.

 **I think I'm going to have more trouble than I thought fitting this story into ten chapters, 2,000 (Approximately) words each.**

 **I wanted to make ten chapters for each year, and have each chapter me around 2,000 words long. But, it's hard fitting the whole story and adventure into only ten chapters, each being only 2,000 words long.**

 **It's hard to fit all that I want to fit into one chapter with only 2,000 words. Each chapter always ends up being longer than that, and I have to take parts out to make it be a shorter chapter, or just post it anyway. When I write, I just get sucked in, and it's hard to stop at just 2,000 words, Lol! :)**

 **Well, I hope you guys liked this chapter! :D Hopefully I can manage to make this only ten chapters long, and there are only five more chapters left! Half way through, yay! :D**


	10. First Year, Part 10 (The Boy Centaur)

I climbed down the cliff, grabbing onto the tree roots as I climbed down. The cliff had plenty of roots on it and plenty of footholds, but it still took a few minutes to reach the bottom. The cliff was steep.  
I rushed over to where Aileen sat.

"Aileen, are you alright?" I asked, kneeling down beside her.

"Yeah, I think so. I twisted my ankle when I fell," Aileen looked down at her ankle. "I think I might've broken it," she admitted, wincing in pain.

"Let me see," I said, gently moving her hands away from her booted foot. I removed the boot as gently as I could and looked at her ankle. There was a large lump on her ankle with a dark bruise already forming. There was also a gash on her ankle that blood was seeping through.

"Goodness! How on earth did you manage to twist it like this? How is it bleeding?" I asked, surprised.

"I didn't expect there to be a bloody hole where there was only supposed to be tree roots," she replied grumpily. "I think I hit it on that rock," She pointed to a rather large rock a foot away from where she sat.

"How are we going to get back if you have a broken ankle, Aileen?" I asked, glancing at the woods around us, my eyes wandering to the cliff I had climbed down. There was no way Aileen would be able to climb that in this condition, much less walk all the way back to the castle.

"Can you fix it?" She asked, "I certainly can't, you know how dreadful I am at Potions, but you told me you wanted to become a healer. Surely you know a spell to heal this."

"Well, I can try. But we've only been taught to heal mild wounds, like a bloody nose or something, not a broken ankle. Especially one as bad as yours. I might end up causing more damage."

She sighed, glancing down at her rapidly swelling ankle.  
"If anyone here can do it, it's you, Alexa. Besides, you have any better ideas?"

I didn't reply. Maybe I could go back and get a professor's help. But, I wasn't going to leave Aileen here alone. Nor did I want to go back alone. Not to mention we would be in heaps of trouble if anyone found out we had snuck out.

I tried to remember a spell from the variety of potions, Healing Magic, and Charms books I'd read. Although it was not required of me for school, I read a lot of those books I found in the Hogwarts Library. I had read about and tried to memorize plenty of healing spells from the books, but I had never attempted them on someone, as they were more advanced spells than I had been taught yet, and I had no need to until now.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep, steadying breath. "This would be easier if I had access to some potions ingredients, but I'll do my best."

Taking my wand from my pocket, I pointed it at her ankle. Though I was worried my wand movement wouldn't be precise enough, or I would mispronounce the spell, I muttered the spell anyway.  
Nothing happened at first, then Aileen's face turned a deathly pale shade. She didn't make any sounds of pain, but I knew that whatever I did wrong must've hurt from the expression on her face.

"Sorry, sorry," I muttered apologetically.

I flicked my wand and tried it again. This time, her ankle slowly turned back to its normal shape, the bruise fading, the gash fading into a dried scratch, and the bump vanishing. Her face got some color back into it, and she grinned. She slipped her boot back on.

"See, told you you could do it," she said as she stood up, moving her ankle in circles to test it.

Smiling proudly, I stood up and looked around us.

"Where are we?" I asked in amazement, only now truly taking in our surroundings.

Like the forest above us, the trees were large with branches twisting every which way. But this forest wasn't the same as the one we had just been in only moments ago. There was no snow, and a thick mist hung around us. Dried leaves covered the ground, and a light wind made them fly about off the ground.

"I don't know," Aileen replied, looking around us.

"I think we went a bit too far," I said. "Did you see the trees above us? There aren't pine trees up there like there was when we entered the forest, and it was darker out."

"I didn't notice them; I got a bit absorbed in our game of chase," she admitted. "I've never heard of a forest being under the Forbidden Forest, have you? Do you think we're still in the Forbidden Forest?"

"I've never heard of this place. But I've heard the Forbidden Forest is a very old place that holds many secrets. So this shouldn't really be a surprise." I said, following Aileen as she started walking around. "Shouldn't we head back, Aileen? It's quite dark out now, what if we can't find our way back?" I asked worriedly, looking up at the cliff I had climbed down.

"We need only follow our footsteps in the snow to get back. And besides, it's already as dark as it's gonna get out there," she pointed out. "Let's explore this place a little before we head back."

"Alright," I agreed, "But let's be quick. Someone might notice our absence we're gone too long."

We walked around, being careful not to go too far from the cliff that led back out.

"I can't believe there's a forest under the forest!" Aileen exclaimed, a hint of excitement creeping into her voice.

"I know," I agreed, beginning to forget about being afraid as we explored this strange new place. "And there's no snow down here. It's not even cold in these woods."

"I wonder-" Aileen stopped abruptly. "Did you hear that?" she asked, looking around.

"Hear what?" I asked, edging closer to her. Then I heard it. A sound like an animal, or a child, whimpering. We both froze, looking at each other.

"I-I think it came from over here," I said nervously, walking toward a large tree. Aileen grabbed my arm.

"Are you crazy?" She whispered, "We don't know what that was! We should go back. Now." She started to pull me back towards the cliff, but I resisted.

"Aileen," I whispered back, "It sounded like a child. What if there's a child in here, hurt?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Alexa. How on earth would a child find its way here? It is probably some dark creature, trying to lure us to be its next meal."

"We are children," I pointed out, "and we found our way here."

There was another whimper from behind the tree, and we both froze.

"Come on," I whispered, slowly walking towards the tree.

"If you want to risk your life, you can go right ahead," she said stubbornly, her voice a little above a whisper, "I can't believe you, this is just the kind of thing a stupid, reckless Gryffindor would do."

I ignored her and continued towards the large tree. The tree was surrounded by the thick mist, and I couldn't see anyone or anything by it.

Despite Aileen's words, she followed me when she saw I was still going.

"This is so foolish," She whispered as we edged nearer to the tree.

The whimper came again, and it sounded more like an animal than a child.

Aileen and I looked at each other, then back at the tree.  
I hesitated a moment, then we both stepped closer, peering behind the tree. Aileen and I gasped in surprise at what we saw.

Sitting on the ground was indeed a child. The boy looked to be a bit younger than us. He was tied in rope, his eyelids were slightly closed, and he looked as if he were in pain. There was a long scratch on his arm, and dried blood surrounded it. Although he was just a boy, he looked very strong. Far stronger than any boy I had ever seen.

That wasn't why we gasped though. From the waist down, the boy had a black horse's body. His ears were pointed and hairy like a horse, and his hands were shaped like hooves, but with fingers.

The boy, thing, looked up in surprise and fright at the sound of our gasps.

We stood still for a moment, just staring at the thing. The boy stared back at us, and then I stumbled back in fright as if my body had only just caught up with my frightened brain.

"W-What are you?" I asked.

The boy didn't answer, looking down at me.

"It, it is a Centaur," Aileen said. "I read about them in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

"What? What's a Centaur?" I asked, climbing to my feet and edging behind Aileen.

I noticed the boy had a red and green cloud surrounding him; Strong will, competitive, survival oriented, a love of animals & nature, and restful.  
But I also noticed something else. The edges of the cloud looked chopped off and jagged. It reminded me of someone else's cloud, but I couldn't remember whose. Then it came back to me. It reminded me of the day on the train. Remus Lupins' cloud had had that same look about it. Like part of the cloud surrounding him had been jaggedly cut off. Before I could ponder what this meant, the boy spoke.

"Who are you?" the boy asked. His voice was deeper than I expected from a boy. His eyes lingered on my red eye and leg, confusion written on his face, and then his eyes darted to Aileen as she spoke.

"My name is Aileen, and this is Alexa. Who are you?" Aileen asked.

She didn't sound scared, and that gave me courage. I stepped out from behind Aileen.

"My name is Sharem Magoriam," the boy said uncertainly, his eyes darting between the two of us. "Are you part of my Uncle's followers?" He asked. He looked and sounded a bit frightened, but I could tell he was trying to put on a brave front.

"I don't think so. Who's your Uncle? And why are you tied up?" I asked, stepping closer to the boy.

Just then, a loud noise that sounded like a mix between an angry horse and a dinosaur echoed through the forest. We all jumped at the sound.

My eyes widened in fear.

"What was that?" I asked in a small whisper.

The boy had a look of pure terror written on his face.  
"Quickly humans, untie me," the boy said, "That is my Uncle. He could be here any moment."

I bent down and started to untie the knots that were wrapped tightly around the boy.

"Stop," Aileen said, pulling me away. "How do we know you don't mean us any harm?"

The boy scowled.  
"I assure you, little girl, I do not intend you any harm. But my uncle on the other hand…" he didn't finish his sentence, trailing off.

Aileen scowled back at the boy.

"Little girl?" She asked, visibly offended. "You look younger than me. How old are you? Nine, Ten?"

"Actually-" the boy started, but I interrupted.

"We don't have time for this," I bent down and began to untie him. "I don't know what that thing was we just heard, Aileen, but it sounds more threatening than this boy looks at the moment."

"So?" Aileen argued. "Let's leave him here and get out of here."

"Aileen, he's just a boy. Help me untie him. We can't just leave him here for whatever that thing was."

She let out a huff and started to help me with the complicated knots.

"We'll never be able to untie these!" Aileen exclaimed after a minute, frustrated.

The thick ropes were wrapped tight, tight enough that the boy, who had a lot more muscle than any boy should have on him, could not escape.

I smacked my forehead as a thought came to me. "I'm so stupid!"  
I stood up, taking my wand out and pointed it at the ropes. I muttered the Unlocking Charm. The ropes instantly untied themselves.

"I didn't know the Unlocking Charm worked on tied ropes," Aileen said.

"Well, knots are a bit like locks, if you think about it," I said. "I Once used this spell to untie ropes that tied the Great Hall's doors closed."

It had been James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black who had tied the doors shut, preventing me and any other student who wasn't already in there from getting any dinner. They had both worn surprised looks when I was able to enter the Great Hall without a problem. But I didn't mention that to Aileen.

The boy stood and stretched his arms. He was surprisingly taller than Aileen and I. It was his horse body that made him taller.

The angry sound of a horse has heard again, closer this time.  
We heard a horse stomping through the forest in our direction from a distance off. Aileen turned pale and grabbed my arm pulling me toward the cliff.

"Quick! We have to get out of here!" She yelled, dragging me with her.

We ran back to the cliff and started to climb back up. I looked behind me. The boy had followed us and was looking hopelessly up at us climbing the cliff.

He couldn't climb it with his horse body, I realized. I paused, looking around. The stampeding thing was coming closer, and the boy looked frightened. He looked around hopelessly, glancing in the direction of the sound.

I looked up at Aileen, who was almost at the top, then back down at the frightened boy. After a moment of hesitation, I climbed back down quickly. I knew that I didn't know this boy, this Centaur, but I couldn't stand by and leave him to whatever was coming towards us.

"Listen," I said breathlessly, "I'm going to try to levitate you up. I'm quite good at charms, but I've only ever used this spell on a feather before. I don't know how well it will work on, well, something as heavy as you."

I pointed my wand at the boy, my hand shaking slightly. The boy looked at me, and then back at the sound that was almost upon us.

Trying to ignore the fear in my stomach, trying to ignore the urge to look towards the sound and see if the thing was here yet, I took a deep breath and spoke the levitating charm.

At first, I thought it hadn't worked. But, the boy let out a whinnying sound like a frightened horse as he suddenly began to float up towards the opening in the cliff.  
Once he had reached the top and was safely on top with Aileen, I began to climb the cliff. Aileen's pale, frightened face stared at me from above.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry," she kept repeating, like some kind of desperate prayer.

Just as I was almost up to the top of the high cliff, I felt something grab my leg. I let out a frightened yelp and almost fell. A large hand caught me and pulled me up as if I weighed nothing.

As I was lifted up, I glanced behind me. There was another creature below me, like the boy but only much larger. His eyes were red, and he had a long mane of black hair. His teeth looked like he had filed them to be pointed as he glared up at me.

"Quick," the boy, Sharem, said, "He'll get up here in a moment."

The boy lowered his legs.

"Climb on," He said. He didn't look happy about it, but he let Aileen and I climb on his back. He stood up and wobbled a little.

"Follow the footsteps in the snow," Aileen told the boy.

The boy obeyed and began to run fast through the forest. We heard the dinosaur or horse sound again behind us, but when I glanced back, I couldn't see the other Centaur behind us.

After a long while of running through the dark forest, I spotted pine trees and felt myself relax; We were close to Hogwarts, and we hadn't heard the thing behind us in a while.

 **I've decided I'm going to have the chapters be 2,000-3,000 words each. It's just too hard having them only be 2,000 words.**


	11. First Year, Part 11 (The Secret Passagew

We approached the edge of the forest, and I could see the lights of Hogwarts Castle glowing in the distance. I didn't know what time it was. The sky had darkened everything except for the bright, sparkling snow.

Sharem stopped without a word, lowering himself so we could get down.

I stepped down and winced at the sudden pain, stiffness, and cold that rushed to my legs. All of my limbs felt frozen; I was hungry, tired and sore all over from squeezing Sharem's horse body so tightly with my body as he had run through the dark forest at a surprisingly fast pace. I couldn't wait to get back into Hogwarts' warm halls.

I had never ridden a horse before, but if it was anything like what I had just experienced, I never wanted to.

"Finally," Aileen said as she jumped down. She promptly began walking towards Hogwarts. "Let's go, Alexa. Hopefully, it's not past curfew, and we can get something to eat. I'm starving."

I began to follow, but then looked back at Sharem, who was standing still, unsure of what to do next.

"Do you have a place to go, Sharem?" I asked, my words barely understandable on my lips that had numbed in the cold air. I didn't understand how Sharem could stand to be shirtless in this weather, but he didn't even look cold.

Sharem looked troubled at my words.

"I don't know what to do," he said, sounding a bit helpless. "I need to get to my father; to tell him about my Uncle. But I know Uncle Cargem will stick by his side, expecting me to go to Father first thing now that I've escaped."

"Why does your Uncle want you so badly?" Aileen asked suspiciously. She had stopped walking towards Hogwarts when she saw I wasn't following her and now stood with her arms crossed giving Sharem a suspicious look. "What did you do?"

"I did nothing," Sharem said indignantly. "He needs me to perform a Centuarn Ritual. He-"

"Wait," Aileen interrupted him, her teeth chattering from the cold. I noticed that her complexion was even paler than usual and her lips were blue. "What is a Centuarn Ritual?"

Sharem began to answer but was interrupted again.

"We can't stand here and discuss this all night," I said. "If it's not already past curfew, it's going to be soon. We need to get back to the castle, Aileen."

"What about him?" Aileen asked, looking over at Sharem. "Where is he going to go?"

I looked at Sharem, who looked tired and worn out. I felt a pang of sympathy towards the boy centaur. He was only a child, and my natural reaction was to do everything I could to help him, to make the troubled look on his face go away.

"Can you come to the castle with us?" I asked him. "You can't possibly linger in the Forest with your Uncle looking for you. Not to mention all the other things wandering in here."

Sharem didn't answer right away, looking uncertainly at Hogwarts.

Aileen also looked confused.

"How are we supposed to sneak him into Hogwarts?" Aileen asked. "If you haven't noticed, half his body is that of a black horse, and a rather large one at that, despite the fact that the rest of him looks like a nine-year-old. He would be difficult to miss walking down the halls of Hogwarts."

"Eleven!" Sharem exclaimed, making both me and Aileen jump in surprise.

"What?" I asked in confusion, glancing at Aileen who looked equally confused.

"I'm eleven," Sharem stated, rather sheepishly. "Not nine."

"Right," Aileen said, giving sharem a look that told him she didn't believe him. "Whatever you say. Nine, eleven, the point still stands; How are we supposed to get you into the castle?"

"Well," I said thoughtfully, "Maybe we can ask Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper, to hide him. We all know Hagrid loves magical creatures, and wouldn't want one of them to be harmed."

"No," Aileen said, "he might tell one of the professors about him."

Aileen was right. We didn't know Hagrid, and we couldn't be sure if he could keep such a secret.

"We'll have to find a way to sneak him into one of our dormitories," I said decisively. "The other students won't be back for two more weeks, so we don't need to worry about them finding out about him."

"Not my Slytherin dormitory," Aileen said. "If any of the Slytherins found him, they would do worse to him than his uncle. They have prejudiced views on part-humans. "Half-breeds" they call them."

Sharem looked quite upset at this comment but didn't say anything.

"Okay, so we'll need to get him in my Dormitory," I said. "We'll need to wait here until all the students and teachers are asleep, then get him in unseen." I wrapped my arm around myself shivering.

"Wait," Aileen said in sudden realization. "Boys can't enter the girls' dormitories."

"They can't?" I asked. I had never heard anything about this.

"No, they can't," she said. "I've seen some try, and it didn't end well."

"Well, we have to try," I said. "Sharem's not entirely human, so maybe he'll be able to."

"Okay," Aileen agreed with some hesitation. "I wish we could make a fire though."

"Why can't we?" I asked, rubbing my hands together to warm them.

"Someone could see the flames from the castle and come find the cause of them," Aileen said. She leaned against Sharam's horse body. "I guess we'll have to make due with the centaur's warmth."

Sharem looked a little annoyed at this but didn't complain.

I came and sat down in the snow, leaning against Sharem as well. My legs felt too weak to stand like Aileen was. Sharem was much warmer than he should be in this weather. Maybe centaurs didn't react to the cold as humans did, I thought.

We stayed like this for only a short time before every light in Hogwarts went out.

Despite feeling tired, cold, weak and hungry, I jumped to my feet as the last light went out.

"The lights are all out, let's go," I said in explanation as Aileen blinked sleepily in confusion at me. She had closed her eyes and must've started to fall asleep.

She got up, and we all walked towards the castle.

"I'll go ahead and keep an eye out for anyone coming," Aileen said as we reached the castle doors. "Don't come until I motion for you too." She opened the doors, and I felt the warmth of the castle immediately.

"If I do this," Aileen said, making a shooing motion with her hand, "it means hide because someone's coming."

"Okay," I whispered. Aileen went ahead of us and checked to make sure the way was clear. She motioned for us to follow and we quietly followed her as she led us in the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room.

My heart was racing, and I found myself letting out sighs of relief I hadn't realized I'd been holding every time Aileen confirmed it was safe to go.

As we snuck about, I could understand why "The Four Troublemakers," - as Aileen had labeled the group of Gryffindor pranksters, loved to sneak around, breaking the rules and pulling pranks. It was exhilarating, in a strange way. I wondered if that was just because of my Gryffindor personality and if Aileen felt the same way.

Our luck didn't last long though.

Aileen poked her head around a corner and then quickly stepped back and made the shooing motion at us, running quietly back to us.

I tugged Sharem behind a giant statue to our right.

Aileen joined us behind the statue quietly.

"We can't go this way," she whispered, "Argus Filch and his demon kitten are just around that corner."

"We'll have to go through the secret passageway by that purple chair," I said.

Aileen and I had discovered the passageway on one of our explorations. It was one of the few passageways I knew of, and it led to any of the Common Rooms, depending on what direction you went once inside. But it took longer going that way.

One of my favorite ways to pass the time here at Hogwarts was to explore; I found Hogwarts quite fascinating, and it was so huge that I never ran out of new places to explore.

I usually wandered Hogwarts alone or with Aileen, and a few times I had explored with Frank Longbottom. We hadn't discovered many secret passageways, but I knew of more passageways than most students did at Hogwarts.

Just then, Argus Filch voice was heard loudly down the hall.

"I hear STUDENTS OUT OF BED!"

I didn't know how he had heard us when we had been whispering. But he was Filch.

We all looked around in panic, looking for a place to hide.

Suddenly the statue's hand we were hiding behind lit up. It glowed a vibrant red color. I was about to point this out to Aileen and Sharem when I noticed that I only saw the fingertips of the statue's hand glow out of my left eye. The damaged one. My other eye could only see the bricks.

Without pausing to ponder over this, I touched the statue's fingertips with my own. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

The statue moved one of its legs aside, revealing an opening in between its legs. I heard Aileen gasp in surprise. Cobwebs were surrounding the opening, but I didn't care at the moment.

I pushed Aileen into the passageway, and stepped in behind her, pulling Sharem along. No sooner had we all gotten in then the statue's leg stepped back into its place, and everything was pitch black where we stood.

We all remained silent as we heard Filch run past the statue proclaiming there were students out of bed.

"How did you know there was a passageway here?" Aileen whispered.

"I didn't know," I replied truthfully. I didn't want to tell them that my damaged eye had seen the hand glowing red.

"Let's go," Aileen said after a moment, casting the Wand-Lighting Charm and stepping forward. Before she got three steps, she quickly stopped in her tracks, brushed cobwebs off her face. She had walked right into a giant cobweb.

I chuckled lightly, pointing my wand at Aileen, who was clawing at her face and neck in a vain attempt to get the sticky webs off her. I cast the Scouring Charm, and the webs instantly vanished.

"Thanks," she said. She then pointed her wand to the nearby webs and cast the Scourging Charm on them. The webs disappeared, and she continued forward. "Come on."

We walked down the dark passageway, our wands lighting the path. I felt glad I wasn't claustrophobic, as the passageway was very narrow, much narrower than usual. It had lots of twists and turns, and at every dark corner, my heart beat picked up at the thought of something right behind the dark corner, waiting to get us.

After walking for a while, we came to a spot that split into two different directions.

"Which way do we go?" Sharem asked, looking left and right in confusion.

"Let's go this way," Aileen said, walking to the left.

After only a few moments, we came to a dead end.

"Well," I said in disappointment, "let's go back and go down the other passageway. I hope it get's us closer to the Gryffindor Common room, I'm exhausted."

"Yeah, me too," Aileen agreed, yawning.

We went back and went the other direction.

The other path also led to a dead end, and I began to feel a bit desperate.

"We can't go back!" I exclaimed in frustration, worry evident in my voice.

As soon as I said this, I noticed something I hadn't before. Three of the bricks on the wall glowed a dim red color. Just like with the statue, I could only see the bricks glow out of my left eye.

"Wait," I said. I had a theory, and I wanted to test it. "Let me try something," I said, walking over to the three bricks and touching them lightly with my palm as I had none with the statue.

Nothing happened.

"What are you doing?" Sharem asked in confusion.

I ignored his question pushed on the bricks harder. The brick wall suddenly crumbled away.

We all stepped back, staring at the opening. Even though I had suspected it would work, I was still surprised.

After a second, I stepped forward and looked down. There was a long, spiral staircase that led down as far as my eyes could see.

"How did you know how to do that?" Aileen asked in surprise, pointing her lit wand down to brighten the dark staircase.

"I-I read about it in a book. Sometimes you can reveal hidden openings by pushing on them," I lied.

Aileen didn't know that my left eye could see any differently than my right one, and I wasn't ready to let her know. It would only make me more of a freak in her eyes, and I didn't want to see her look at me how so many others had.

"I'll go first," Aileen said, cautiously stepping on the first step.

Sharem went next. He was very slow and hesitant at first, but once he saw that he was able to walk down the steps with his four legs by leaning his body close to the railing to balance himself, he picked up his pace.

I followed them down. The stairs went round, and round and I was beginning to feel a bit dizzy by the time we finally reached the bottom.

"It looks like a small dungeon," I said as we reached the bottom. "Look, there's a barred door over there."

There were medieval-looking sconces mounted on the walls, and I pointed my wand at them, casting a Fire-Making Spell.

I walked over to the barred door in the small room we had entered.

"It's unlocked," I said, pushing it open and stepped into a larger room.

"Nobody's been on here for ages," Aileen said, stepped in behind me. I lit the sconces in the room and looked around.

There were dust and cobwebs everywhere. The only items to be seen were a round table, four chairs, and an old-looking rug. We could find no other doors or passageways that went anywhere else.

"We'll have to go back and try going the other way," Aileen said. "Maybe there's a secret room behind that other dead end too," She looked around the room. "What's the point of this room anyway?" Aileen asked curiously. "It's got a barred door. What do you suppose they used it for?"

"I don't know," I replied, looking around. "But I have an idea. We don't need to go back that other way, Aileen. We don't know if that other passageway even leads out, and Filch is probably gone by now. And if he's not, we'll just get a detention for being out of bed."

Aileen gave me a confused look, not understanding. She glanced at Sharem.

"We can't risk Sharem being caught though," she said.

"Sharem can stay here. Nobody knows about this room, and he'll be safe here."

"Right," Aileen said, having understood my idea. "And it would be easier for me and Alexa to sneak back alone. No offense Sharem, but you're quite noticeable, with the whole horse body and everything."

"Okay," Sharem agreed.

I took both of my gloves from my pockets and transfigured them into two fuzzy blankets. I handed them to Sharem.

"What's this for?" he asked curiously, taking the blankets I offered.

"It's a bed," I replied "I can't transfigure it into an actual bed, so you'll have to make due with just the blankets. Sorry," I apologized.

"It will get dark once the fire goes out in those things," Sharem said, glancing at the lit sconces.

I saw a flicker of fear in his eyes as he said this, and I supposed he must be scared of the dark. It didn't make any sense though, considering he lived in a dark forest.

"The sconces on the walls will remain lit unless we use a counterspell to put out the fire in them," Aileen said reassuringly. I think she must've seen the fear on his face as well.

Sharem looked relieved at this.

"We'll be back tomorrow," I said. "With food and stuff."

"Okay," he said, placing the blankets on the floor and curling up on them. "Tomorrow I can tell you everything. Hopefully, I can figure out the next course of action by tomorrow."

"Bye, Sharem," Aileen said as she opened the barred door and started to walk towards the stairs.

"Goodnight," I said as I began to follow Aileen.

I looked back at Sharem as I left. He had curled up on the blanket and was watching us leave. I didn't want to leave Sharem all alone down here, but we had no other option. Smiling at him, I closed the door behind me.

We made our way back up the stairs and back to the beginning of the passageway. We quickly figured out that pushing the statue's leg made him move it.

Filch was nowhere in sight, and Aileen and I said our goodbyes as we went our separate ways.

I had no trouble getting back my dormitory. The portrait of the Fat Lady had eyed me suspiciously but hadn't commented on why I was out of bed. She, like most of the students, avoided speaking to me.

As soon as I fell into my bed, I was fast asleep. I didn't even bother to take off my boots.

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**

 **It was quite hard making this one only be 3,000 words; I had to cut out quite a few words. BTW, these darkened notes at the bottom don't count towards the 3,000 words, as they aren't the actual story. You guys don't even need to read them! :)**

 **In case anyone cares to know why I want each chapter to be 2-3,000 word, and have only 10 chapters in this story, here's why: If I make 'First Year' be too long, I'll never reach 'Seventh Year.' Or it'll take forever.**

 **I want to write Years 1-7.**

 **I'm writing this fanfiction to improve my writing by gaining practice. And because I LOVE Harry Potter fanfiction, especially The Maruaders Era; Although, 'First Year' unfortunately doesn't have many scenes with The Marauders in them.**

 **I might have to make 'First Year' be 15-20 chapters though, I can't see myself fitting the rest of the story into only 3 chapters.**


	12. First Year, Part 12 (The Whole Story)

When I entered the great hall the next day at breakfast, there were only a few professors and students eating breakfast. The Great Hall was almost completely empty.

Sitting down, I piled pancakes onto my plate and ate. I couldn't get over how quiet Hogwarts was without all the students.

Moments later, Aileen came in and sat next to me, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice. Usually, Aileen and I didn't sit together at lunch, because we were in separate houses. But with only one or two Slytherins around and no Gryffindors, we could.

As soon as we finished eating, I wrapped food in a napkin and placed it in my bag.

"Ready to go?" I asked, standing up.

Aileen poured another glass of pumpkin juice and stood. "Let's go."

We made our way to the secret passageway.

"Do you think Sharem is innocent?" Aileen asked as we entered the dark passageway.

"Of course," I lit my wand. "You think Sharem was at fault when his Uncle was the one who had him tied up?"

"Maybe he was tied up for a good reason though. He could be dangerous."

"You saw his uncle, Aileen. He had pointed teeth, and he looked terrifying. You don't' think his uncle could be innocent, do you?"

"No, but just because his uncle isn't good, doesn't mean Sharem is good," she said. "All I'm saying is we shouldn't just completely trust Sharem, even if he seems like the good one out of the two. And we shouldn't risk our lives for his like you did back there at the underground forest."

"Okay," I agreed hesitantly, "Do you really not trust him, Aileen?" I hadn't planned to risk my life for him. I had acted on impulse. I didn't know if I was willing to risk my life for Sharam's, but I still wanted to help him.

"I don't trust anyone until they've earned my trust," she said, as she ushered me forward.

"But you will try to help him?" I asked. "We said we would. Even if it is dangerous, Aileen, we need to help him. He's only a boy. Think about if you were in his position."

She didn't answer.

"So, that's what we're calling it?" I asked.

"Calling what?" Aileen asked as we reached the spot where we had to turn left or right.

"The part of the Forbidden forest we found," I explained. "We're calling it the underground forest?"

"Well, it is an underground forest, so yeah," Aileen said, looking left and right. "Which way did we go last time?"

"I don't remember," I said, "I think we went left, and then right. I was so tired, I didn't pay attention."

We turned right and came to the dead end. The bricks were no longer glowing, but when I pressed on them, the hidden open way appeared. We walked down the long, twisting staircase to the room Sharem was in.

"Hi, Sharem," I said brightly as we entered the room. "We brought you food, as promised," I said, as I began to open my bag and dig through it to get to the pancakes.

Sharem lay curled on the blanket, and he looked like he had only just woken up.

Aileen handed him the glass of pumpkin juice she had brought.

"It's pumpkin juice," she said at his questioning look. "Drink it."

I handed him the napkin of food I had brought. "Here, eat these. They're pancakes and bacon."

After nibbling at the pancakes, Sharem scarfed them down instantly. I made a mental note to bring more food next time. Apparently, having a body the size of a horse meant you had a more substantial appetite than most boys. And that was saying something.

Aileen and I sat down at the roundtable.

"So," Aileen said. "Ready to tell us everything?"

Sharem nodded.

"Where to start," he said, more to himself than to us.

"I have an idea," Aileen said. "Why don't you start at the beginning."

"Well," he said uncertainly. "It's kind of a long story."

"We've got time," Aileen said, crossing her legs and leaning back.

"Okay, so it all began back in my Grandparents days. They're dead now, of course. My grandmother had a child. Only, it wasn't my grandfather's son. My grandfather didn't know it wasn't his child until it was born. Its teeth were pointed, and when the baby got upset, or when it went without food for more than a day or two, it's skin would turn this ugly grayish color," He paused. "But that wasn't the worst part. The baby wouldn't eat the normal food that centaurs eat. The child preferred a different kind of food."

"What kind of food?" I asked, already fearing the answer.

"Blood," Sharem said, "The baby loved to drink blood. It didn't matter what kind of blood it was. It could be animal blood, centaur blood, human blood, any kind of blood. Blood was the only thing that fed its appetite."

"Did your grandparents feed it blood?" Aileen asked in a disgusted tone.

"Not at first. When my grandfather found out it wasn't his child, that the child was part monster, he was furious. He made my grandmother tell him who's the child was. My grandmother confessed that it was a dark creature's child. But it wasn't her fault, she said. She was tricked by a Vamsherin," Sharem glanced at us. "Do you two know what a Vamsherin is?" Sharem asked.

"No," Aileen and I answered simultaneously. I was surprised that Aileen didn't know. Magical creatures were her favorite subject, and she regularly had a book about them she was reading.

"I didn't think so. Not many do. Vamsherin is very rare dark creatures. In fact, there can only ever be about six pure Vamsherins in the world at one time. There are half-breeds of Vamsherin, but not many. The Vamsherin usually kill off all their children, if they manage to have them at all. They're sort of like vampires," Sharem looked at us. "You do know what a vampire is, right?"

"Yes," Aileen said. "They have two fangs, and they suck your blood."

"Well, Vamsherin have more than two fangs. Their fangs only show when they want them too, or they're feeling a strong emotion. They have the ability to attract their prey to them. To even make their pray fall in love with them, if that's what they want. If you were to ever meat a vamsherin, you would naturally be drawn to them. They're very beautiful, and they make you have an urge to please them however you can. They can even make you kill your best friend. That's how strong their hold is on you."

"Like Veela?" Aileen asked.

Sharem and I looked at her, confused.

"What's Veela?" he asked.

"They're beautiful women, only part human and part magical creature. They are magically seductive to most males, and when they get angry, they look kind of like a harpy. Their heads look like a beaked bird, and scaly wings protrude from their shoulders."

I think that Aileen would make a good Care of Magical Creatures teacher some day. We don't have Care of Magical Creatures Class yet, but Aileen still reads all the books she can get her hands on about them.

"Well then, yes," Sharem said. "They're kind of like Veela. Except they don't just attract males, and they aren't women. In fact, most Vamsherin are males. They attract their pray to them, and then as soon as their pray agrees, which doesn't usually take long, they drain them of all their blood."

"That's horrible," I couldn't imagine willingly letting something drain my blood.

"Why do they wait for the pray to agree? Why don't they just kill them outright?" Aileen asked.

"They're unable to drink the blood of any creature that isn't willing. But, that's not a problem for Vamsherin. All creatures are instantly attracted to them and want to please them. It's almost like the Vamsherin cast a spell on their pray. Once the Vamsherin releases their hold on them, their victims, if the Vamsherin leave them alive that is, are usually shocked and appalled at what they did. The Vamsherin usually kill their prey, but not always. Sometimes, for whatever reasons, they leave them alive to tell the tale. As in my grandmother's case."

"I think I know where this is going," Aileen said quietly to me.

"My grandmother was a victim of a Vamsherin. The Vamsherin left her alive, with child. My grandmother didn't want to tell my grandfather, fearing what might happen. And so, she planned to have the child and pretend it was my grandfathers. The pair had been wanting a child for a long time but had yet to bare one. When the child was born, my grandfather wanted to kill it after hearing what it was."

"That's, evil," I couldn't think of any better word for someone who would kill a child.

"Maybe," Sharem agreed. "But the child was a monster. It was part centaur, but it was also part Vamsherin. My grandmother begged my grandfather not to kill it, as it was her child and she loved it. My grandfather loved my grandmother, and let her keep the child, provided she kept it away from him and all the other centaurs. He could barely look at the child, let alone stand to be anywhere near it."

"Sharem, this child was your uncle?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "My grandparents had another child after my Uncle was born, and this child was a pure centaur. He was my father. My grandfather loved this second child dearly. This obvious love that my grandfather showed Father caused there to be resentment on Uncle Cargem's part. My uncle was jealous of my father."

"Well," I said thoughtfully. "I can't say I blame him. I mean, it seems pretty unfair. It wasn't his fault he was born part Vamsherin."

"That's what Father always

sais," Sharem says, more to himself than anyone else. "Maybe Uncle Cargem wouldn't have turned out the way he is now if circumstances had been different. When he was eight, my grandmother died. He was left with his half-brother - my father, that is, and my grandfather. If it hadn't been his wife's wish to let the child live, my grandfather would've killed the child then. But he loved my grandmother and spared the child. But, my grandfather had him locked in a cage, only feeding him animal blood. He said it was to protect the colony of centaurs. But my father said he thought it was because my grandfather hated Uncle Cargem."

"But he was only a child," I said. "Your grandfather sounds-"

"Like an awful person, I know," Sharem interrupted. "My uncle was treated like a monster most of his life. So, I think he became one because of that. The only person who cared for him was my father. I don't know if my Uncle really cared for my father or not. But my father was the only one who loved my uncle, despite him being part Vamsherin. And I think that made Uncle Cargem love him too, as much as a Vamsherin is able to love, that is. But once my grandfather found out about the brother's friendship, he forbid my father from going anywhere near Uncle Cargem. So Uncle Cargem spent a lot of his years in a cage, alone.

My father would occasionally visit him in secret. No one was allowed near the cage, in case the part-Vamsherin made them unlock the cage against their will, and free "the monster." Why Uncle Cargem never used his power of attraction on my father, we'll never know. He could have when Father snuck visits to him. But he never did. Of course, naturally, my father wanted to please my Uncle. It wasn't done on purpose, it was just my Uncle's Vamsherin heritage. He couldn't control the way people naturally wanted to please him."

I couldn't help feeling twinge after twinge of pity for Sharem's Uncle. I knew he was evil. He had to be if he would tie up his own nephew. A child, at that.

"But once grandfather died a new leader needed to take his place. Naturally, it would be his firstborn son, the rightful heir. My uncle thought, and still believes, that should've been him, as he was born first. He doesn't understand that just because he was born first, that just because he's not my grandfather's child, that makes him illegitimate. My father was the new leader.

My father immediately released my uncle, and the two were inseparable. Although my Uncle held a lot of resentment towards him, he didn't show it. I don't think my father was or is aware of it at all. But, the centaurs were. Even after my uncle was released from the cage, after he proved that he would not attack any of the centaurs, his clan, or use his powers on them, the other centaurs never trusted him."

"But why did he attack you?" Aileen asked.

"I'm getting to that. You see, after I was born, my father spent most of his time with me. He didn't spend as much time with Uncle Cargen anymore. Any loyalty my uncle might have had for the other Centaurs vanished. He's never liked me, and I've always known that. But, my father didn't see it. He was blinded by his love for his brother.

A few days ago, my father and some other centaurs went on a hunt. My father placed me in Uncle Cargen's care."

"What were they hunting?" Aileen asked.

"I'm not sure on all the details, but I think a death eater was spotted near our home. Death eaters never come that close to our territory. I think that's what my father is hunting.

A chill went down my spine at the word Death Eater'. Voldemort's followers. Death Eaters, they were called.

"Once my father was gone, my uncle used his Vamsherin abilities on me. I'm normally distrustful of him, like all the other centaurs. But, he convinced me that I needed to help him with this ritual. That I needed to be his sacrifice. So I willingly went with him."

"You agreed to let him kill you?" I asked, incredulous.

"I told you," Sharem said, "Vamsherin have the ability to make you want to do anything for them."

"Why did he tie you up then? If you were so willing to please him?" Aileen asked.

"Because once he was gone, his influence over me was broken. I came to my senses, and realized how wrong it all was."

"Where did he go?" Aileen asked.

"I don't know. He tied me to the tree, and left, saying he would be back."

"Once he came back, would've you wanted to let him kill you again?" I asked.

"Yes. But Uncle Cargem can't just use his powers that quickly. It takes a little while before he would have complete control over me again. Before I would be willing to do anything to please him. Otherwise, he would've used his powers as I was trying to escape. But it all happened so quickly, he didn't get the chance."

"I don't understand though," I said. "I didn't feel anything towards him but fear. You said that people were drawn to Vamsherin and that Vamsherin were beautiful. Your uncle wasn't beautiful."

"When Vamsherin lose control over their emotions, their beautiful appearances vanish. Their skin turns grey, their teeth sharpen, and you see them for what they truly are. Uncle Cargen must've had strong emotions, whether they were hate, anger, or desperateness, I don't know."

"So," Aileen said. "When their beautiful appearance is gone, things aren't attracted to them?"

"Yes," Sharem agreed. "But if they have a hold on you like he did me if they've had time to make you want to do anything for them, It won't matter when their appearances change to reveal what they really are. They've got control of you, and you don't even notice their ugliness. You think it's still beautiful. It's only when they're gone that the horror kicks in."

"So if he had gotten us, he could've made us do whatever he wanted?" I asked.

"Yes. But he wouldn't have bothered using his powers on you. He probably would've just killed you. He's not as strong as pure Vamsherin, you see. It takes energy out of him to use his abilities, and it takes him longer to use them than if he were a pure Vamsherin. It takes Vamsherin only a minute to get a hold of you, plus they can go away and still have their hold on you for longer than half Vamsherin. It takes Uncle Cargem longer to use his abilities, and they aren't as strong."

"You said he was going to perform a Centruel Ritual on you," Aileen said. "You haven't told us what that is."

"Right," Sharem said. "My Uncle didn't tell me everything, but he did tell me that he was a follower of Voldemort."

Aileen and I both gasped at the same time.

"But he's part centaur," Aileen said. "They hate Voldemort and death eaters."

"Not my Uncle," Sharem said. "He isn't loyal to the colony of centaurs at all and doesn't care about them. He said that Voldemort promised him things. He said that all the other centaurs would fear him after this and that he would be their leader, not my father. With the Cenruel Ritual, he planned to make all the other centaurs bow down to him. He planned to command them to fight with Voldemort."

"But Voldemort is collecting dark creatures," I said, recalling an article in the daily profit I had read recently. "He's recruiting werewolves, giants, and other dark creatures. Centaurs aren't dark creatures, are they? What use could he have with them?"

"No, they're not dark creatures. But, if my uncle completed the Cenruel Ritual, he would have complete control over their minds and could make them do whatever it is Voldemort wants them to do."

"But was is the Cenruel Ritual?" Aileen asked impatiently.

"I only know what my Uncle told me," Sharem said. "From what I gather, it's a powerful ritual to control the minds of all other centaurs. The ritual can only be performed by a centaur and is very complicated. Not many know it, and it's never even been done before. You have to be truly evil to do it, and most centaurs are not evil. My uncle found out about it from Voldemort. I don't know how long my uncle has been a follower of Voldemort. But now that I think of it, maybe that Death Eater that was spotted near our home had something to do with all of this. Maybe Uncle Cargem had been talking with him when the death eater was spotted."

"Or maybe it was all part of a plan to get your father away," Aileen said. "What does your uncle need for the ritual?"

"I don't know. All I know is that he needed to sacrifice a centaur that was a leader, or heir to the leader; A centaur with leader's blood in them. The only centaurs who have the blood of a leader are me, my father, and Uncle Cargem himself. We all have been born from a leader of the centaurs."

"But your uncle wasn't your grandfather's son? Are the women centaurs also leaders?" Aileen asked.

"Yes. And because female centaurs are rare, the centaurs treasure them. My grandfather was the leader, but my grandmother was also a leader. Just not as powerful. My uncle does have leader blood in him. It's passed on and on, and only the centaurs with the heritage will ever rule the other centaurs."

"Then what about your father's wife, your mother?" I asked. "Doesn't she have royal blood in her?"

"My mother died in childbirth," Sharem said.

"Oh," I said. I felt my pity towards Sharem intensify. "I'm sorry, Sharem."

He shrugged.

"I can't miss what I never had. I never even knew her."

I knew that wasn't true, and I could see the sadness in Sharem's eyes. He missed not having her.

"Anyway," Sharem said. "There's a lot of things he needs for the ritual, most of which he said Voldemort provided him with. I don't know everything he needs, but I know he had everything but the blood sacrifice of a leader. He needs my father or me for the ritual. He chose me. He told me

it was because I'm younger, not as strong, that I wouldn't put up as much of a fight as my father. But I think, deep down, he does love his brother. He doesn't want to kill Father."

"Does the ritual have to be performed at any certain time?" Aileen asked. "Why did he choose now?"

"Yes, that's another thing he told me. He said the ritual could only be performed over the course of a month. That it had to be done between the ending of one year, and the beginning of another. It symbolizes the ending of one leader and the beginning of another."

"Well," I said thoughtfully. "It's December 24th. There's only about a week until January starts, the beginning of a new year."

"Yes," Aileen agreed. "You said he loved your father, that he didn't want him to be the sacrifice.

If your uncle can't get hold of you before the new year starts, he won't be able to perform the ritual until next year. Which, hopefully, he won't be alive to do."

"You don't understand," Sharem said. "If I'm not the blood sacrifice, he'll use my father. He may love for him, but his hate towards centaurs and his obsession with being a leader far outweighs any loyalty or love he may have for my father. He may delay killing him, hoping he'll be able to get me, but when time runs out, he will kill my father. He is probably using his power on my father as we speak, making him not worry about me and send out a search team. He'll stay close to my father so that his hold on him doesn't break."

"We can't give you to him, Sharem," I said. "We can't let him do this. We need to stop him."

"How?" Sharem asked, gazing down at the floor in thought. "You are only children." At Aileen's look, he added, "We are only children. Even if some of us have a higher intelligence."

Aileen rolled her eyes at the last part but otherwise said nothing.

"I don't know," I admitted. "But we'll think of something, Sharem."

"When?" He asked. "I don't know how long my uncle will wait for me to show up before he decides to kill my father. I can't let that happen. I would rather die than let my father die."

"I understand," I said. "But we'll think of something before it get's too late. If your uncle is delaying using your father as the blood sacrifice, then we've got a few days at least."

"There's nothing we can do," Aileen said. "How are we supposed to stop a Vamsherin? One with death eaters and Voldemort himself on his side? We're only first years, Alexa. We haven't even finished a year here at Hogwarts. We don't know that much about defending ourselves, and we don't even know that many spells."

She was right, and I knew it. There was no way that two first years and a young boy centaur would be able to stop something like Sharem's Uncle. Not alone.

"We'll get help," I said, an idea coming to me.

"Who?" Aileen asked.

"Hagrid. And if it comes to it, we'll get the professors and Dumbledore himself involved."

"What if Hagrid tells? We could get in so much trouble for this," Aileen said quietly. "For bringing a centaur here, going into the forbidden forest in the first place." She paused. "But, I suppose if it comes to it, it will be better than Sharem sacrificing himself."

"Right," I agreed. "First thing we need to do is talk to Hagrid. I know he might tell the professors, but he's our best hope. You know how he is about all kinds of beasts and creatures. He might help Sharem."

"Would the other centaurs help us?" I asked Sharem. "If they knew about your uncle's plan?"

Sharem thought for a moment.

"All the centaurs don't like my uncle and are distrustful of him. But, I don't think any of them would go against my father's wishes. My father commanded them never to harm his half-brother. The only chance we would have is getting my uncle away from my father. If my father could see my uncle for who he really is, if he changed his command, the others wouldn't hesitate to punish my uncle. To kill him."

"But would your father change his command not to harm his brother? Even after he knew about your uncle's plan?" Aileen asked. "From what I gather, he's blinded by his love for his brother. He might not believe anything you or anyone else told him until it was too late."

"I don't know," Sharem said. "I don't think he would believe that my uncle was evil, that he was a follower of Voldemort. Without sufficient proof, that is."

"Well," Aileen said thoughtfully. "We'll have to give him proof."

"How?" I asked.

"With hagrid's help, we'll have to use Sharem as bait. If your father sees with his own eyes, hears with his own ears, what more proof is there?"

Although I hated the idea of putting Sharem in any danger or even going back in the forbidden forest, I knew Aileen was right. The only way we could stop Sharem's uncle was if the all the other centaurs helped. And the only way for that to happen was to wake Sharem's father up about the true nature of his brother.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"I don't know completely, yet," Aileen admitted. "But, before we even began to make a plan, we need to talk to Hagrid first."

Sharem, who had been quiet for a while, spoke.

"Make whatever plan you want, and I will follow the plan. But, if we haven't found a way by December, 29th, two days before the end of the month, I will have to go back. By myself. To be the sacrifice. I will not let my father die. And I won't wait so long that my uncle has no other choice but to kill my father for the ritual."

We remained silent for a moment.

"We will have a plan before then," I said firmly. "I promise."

"We'll try," Aileen said, giving me a look. "We can't make any promises."

"Okay," I said, standing. "We had better go now. We'll come back at dinnertime with food."

Sharem nodded and went to curl up again on his blanket.

As Aileen and I walked back through the passageway, I began to think of everything that could go wrong. We could die. Sharem had said his uncle would kill us. Hagrid couldn't stop Sharem's uncle on his own. He could help us, but we needed the centaurs help. If whatever plan we formed failed, we could all die.

Finally! The next chapter is finally up! I know I'm supposed to post every Sunday, but the truth of the matter is I can't. Not anymore. I have new responsibilities that take up a lot of time. Now I can only write certain days, and even that's not for sure.

So, when I do post a chapter, it will be on a Sunday, but not every Sunday. I don't know how long it'll take. Maybe a week, maybe two, it all depends. One thing for sure: I am NOT going to quit writing. Even if I grew to hate it, I will finish this. That's a promise.

I've been learning more and more about writing, and that's one of the things that I learned. Well, one of the things that were reinforced in my brain; I've always known it. NEVER QUIT. No matter what, you must finish the book/short story/poem/etc… Even if it's bad, even if you want to start over or write something else, even if no one, not even you, likes it, you NEED to finish it.

Also, since I won't be posting as frequently, I won't be paying attention to the word length as much. It'll be over 2,000 words per chapter, but I'm not putting any limit on it! :)


	13. First Year, Part 13 (The Christmas Gift)

Throughout lunchtime the next day, Aileen and I discussed how we planned to bring up the subject of Sharem to Hagrid. We decided we would go talk to him in his hut because we didn't want the professors or students to overhear us talking about it in the castle.

As soon as we finished eating lunch, we bundled up and went outside.

Hagrid's small, shabby hut was located on the edge of the forbidden forest, and a few chopped down pines lay beside the house.

We reached Hagrid's door and I knocked softly. After a moment of waiting, I knocked again, louder.

The door opened slowly and Hagrid stood before us. Hagrid was huge, much bigger up close. He was at least ten feet tall, and more than twice as wide. I had to crane my neck to look up at him.

Hagrid stood in the doorway, looking abround for whoever had knocked.

"Hagrid?" I asked.

He looked down, letting out a surprised sound when he saw us.

"Oh, there yeh are. Sorry 'bout that. Wha' can I do fer yeh?"

"We need your help," Aileen said. "We need to talk to you. Can we come in?"

Hagrid looked confused, scratching his head, but after a second motioned for us to come inside.

I stepped inside the warm hut, glancing around me. Empty cages were everywhere, and the table was littered with weird contraptions. Hams and pheasants hung from the ceiling, and a small fire crackled in the fireplace. In the corner stood a massive bed with a red patchwork quilt. It looked a bit odd, but it was cozy and warm.

"Would yer lik' some tea?" Hagrid asked, taking a kettle of boiling water from the fireplace.

"If it's no trouble," I said. "Thank you."

Hagrid poured the hot water into two mugs, and handed one to each of us, motioning for us to sit down at a small table.

"So, wha' is it yer wanted ter talk ter me abou'?"

"Well," I said, setting the mug of steaming tea down on the table. "We need your help, Hagrid. But, we need you to promise not to tell anyone."

"My help? With wha'? I'ma tellin' yer right now, I'ma no' all tha' good at keepin' secrets."

"We know how much you love magical creatures, Hagrid," I started. "So if one was in danger, we thought you'd help us help it."

"That's right," Aileen agreed. "But, in order for us to help it, we need your help. But we can't help it if you tell anyone about this because then we would be in huge trouble. Do you understand?"

"Er, I think so," Hagrid said, though he looked quite confused.

"So will you promise not to tell?" Aileen asked.

"Now, I can' be makin' any promises," Hagrid said, "I told yer, I'm no' good at keepin' secrets."

"Will you at least try to keep it a secret?" I asked.

"Alrigh'," Hagrid said. "But don' say I didn' warn yer,""

Well, it all started on Thursday…" Aileen started. We told Hagrid everything, Aileen and I taking turns to tell the story. When we finished telling Hagrid everything, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, waiting for Hagrid's reaction.

"So," I asked. "Will you help us?"

"Will you keep it a secret as well?" Aileen asked.

"Well, I don' know," Hagrid said thoughtfully. "Professor Dumbledore should know bou' this. It wouldn' be righ' ter hide a-"

"Please," I interrupted. "Please, Hagrid, you can't tell. We could get in so much trouble for being in the Forbidden Forest and bringing Sharem back with us. We could get expelled. Please, don't tell."

"Oh, alrigh'," Hagrid said, if somewhat hesitantly. "Bu goin' back inta the forbidden fores' is dangerous. If anythin' goes wron', we'll need ter have a way ter get yer two back ter the castle safely."

I took a sip of the tea Hagrid had given us. I had forgotten all about it as we told Hagrid everything, so it was now cold. I choked on the bitter taste as it went down my throat and set the cup down.

"The first step will be to lure Sharem's uncle out with bait," Aileen said, "The bait will be Sharem, of course. Once his uncle is away from Sharem's father, one of us will need to get Sharem's father to come and "accidentally" witness his uncle trying to kill Sharem."

"We also need to make sure Sharem's safe when we do all this," I said to Hagridd.

"Right," Aileen agreed. "Meanwhile, the other two of us will follow Sharem and his uncle. We'll keep our eyes on them, and if his uncle tries anything, we'll stop him. Hopefully, if all goes to plan, that won't happen though."

"Cen'aurs and this half vamsherin will be able ter smell us though," Hagrid said, "I might have somethin' fer tha' though. It smells bad, but it'll work."

"Once Sharem's father has seen everything and knows his brother is evil," Aileen continued, "we'll need to convince him to stop his brother. But Sharem's father alone might not be sufficient enough. We need to make sure the other centaurs are within close distance. But not so close that Sharem's uncle senses them."

"And then it's done," I said. "Sharem is safe and back where he belongs." I couldn't help feeling a little sad at the thought of Sharem leaving.

"If the plan fails, we need to have plan B in place," Aileen said, "You should always have another plan if the first one fails."

"What's plan B?" I asked.

"I don't know. We need to think of all possible outcomes, and be ready for them."

"Well, we have less than four days to do that," I said.

"I still don' know abou' this," Hagrid said, glancing between the two of us. "You're so youn', and yer can' defend yehselves if anything happens."

"That's why we have you," I said, smiling up at Hagrid. "And we'll have a plan of escape if it doesn't go acording to plan."

"I don' have a wand," Hagrid spoke doubtfully. "jus' this 'ere pink umbrella," Hagrid pulled a bright, pink umbrella out of his coat pocket.

"What can that do, if you don't mind me asking?" Aileen asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at the thing

.Hagrid swished the umbrella, much like you would a wand, and lit the two candles that were on the table.

"It can do a bi' of magic, but no' much," Hagrid said, placing the umbrella back in his coat pocket.

"We need to help Sharem," I said. "Despite the risks. We just need to make sure we can get out if we need to. We'll be fine, Hagrid."

"Alrigh'," Hagrid said, "But I wan' ter go mee' Sharem."

"Right now?" I asked, glancing out the window at the darkened sky. I hadn't realized we'd been gone for so long.

"Yeah," Hagrid said.

"But you can't, Hagrid," Aileen said.

"Why on earth no'?" Hagrid asked.

"The passageway," I said, remembering how small it was. "well, it's quite small, and, well, you're, you know," I struggled to find the right words so as not to insult Hagrid about his size. "I think it would be too small to fit you. It only just fit Sharem."

"Oh," Hagrid said, "I 'spose I'll have ter meat him when it's time ter go then."

"We'll go on the 29th," Aileen said. "That's the latest we can go by. Sharem said if we don't go by then he'll go back by himself. It will give us all time to think and prepare."

"We'll come visit you every day, Hagrid," I said, standing up, "To keep you updated on the plan."

"Alrigh'," Hagrid said, standing and I stood as well and put on our coats which we had taken off when we came sat down.

"Thank you, Hagrid," I said as Aileen and I were about to leave, giving him a warm smile. "Thank you for agreeing to help us."

"Well, I hope I don' regre' it," Hagrid said, waving goodbye to us as we walked in the direction of the castle.

After bringing Sharem food and telling him what Hagrid said, Aileen and I stayed with him for a little while before going back to our dormitories.

I went straight to bed, despite it only being seven. I fell right asleep but woke in the middle of the night from a nightmare I had about Sharem's uncle. He had killed Sharem in the nightmare, and I found it hard to fall back asleep.

After breakfast the next day, I came back to my room to find three presents sitting on my bed.

The first was from Aunt Cora. It was a large green turtleneck shirt with a Slytherin crest on the front. I sighed and set it down, knowing I would never wear it. Aunt Cora hadn't been happy when I had been sorted in Gryffindor, and every here and there she would send me something to remind me I should've been in Slytherin, like her.

The next one was from Frank. I opened this one eagerly to find a variety of homemade sweets and a short letter from Frank. In the letter he wished me a Merry Christmas and said his mum had made far too many sweets, so he was able to send some to all of his friends.

I smiled and bit into a piece of chocolate fudge from the box. I felt a little bad I hadn't gotten Frank anything. Or Aileen, for that matter. But, with all that had been going on, I hadn't even given it thought. Besides, where would I get them presents from?

The last box was small, with a name tag that said "Anonymous" on it. I frowned, wondering who it could possibly be from.

I opened the box to find four vintage-looking necklaces in it. There was a small note inside the box. I opened it and read it.

"Dear Alexa,These are special necklaces, they will help you in times of need.

Press one of the three small jewels on the points of the necklace, and you will be able to contact whoever owns that colored necklace. Press the large middle jewel to contact all who wear one of the necklaces.

Only give the necklaces to your closest friends, Alexa, and to those you know you can trust.

Yours truly,Anonymous."

I re-read the note a few times, trying to think who it could possibly be from. Giving up, I placed the note back in the box and took out one of the four necklaces.

It was triangle-shaped, with a large, yellow jewel in the middle. On each point of the triangle, a different color jewel rested. After studying it for a minute, I realized that the color of each jewel was the color of one of Hogwarts houses. On the back of the necklace, there was a craving of a badger. Hufflepuff animal.

I looked at the four necklaces. Each had the color of a house for the middle jewel, and the other three house colors set in the corners of the necklace in smaller jewels.

I pocketed the necklaces and threw away all the wrapping paper. I decided I would send Frank one of the necklaces, as a Christmas gift. But not until I figured out how they worked.

Arriving at dinnertime, I saw everyone who sitting at one long table in the middle of the great hall. Aileen was at the far end of the table.

I made my way over to Aileen, who was eating some kind of food I'd never seen before and sat down.

"What took you so long?" Aileen asked. "The feast started twenty minutes ago."

"I have a present for you," I handed her one of the necklaces, the one with the green jewel as its main stone.

She took it, studying it much as I had.

"I got four of these necklaces from someone," I said, starting to fill my plate with food. "I don't know who, the note said "Anonymous," The note in the gift box said that the ones who wear the necklaces can communicate with each other by pressing one of the jewels. But, I'm not sure how it works exactly. Put it one so we can see if it works." I placed the necklace with the red stone, the color of Gryffindor, around my neck.

"Okay," Aileen said, standing up and putting the necklace on. "But I think it's a little suspicious that the giver didn't give their name. I'll go over to that side of the room, and press one of the jewels. Which color should I press?"

"Red," I said. "That's the color of my necklace."

When Aileen reached the other side of the room, I saw her lips move as she said something. I could hear what she said. Her voice didn't come in through the necklace itself, I could hear her voice inside my head. I looked around, seeing if anybody had heard her. Everyone continued to eat, ignoring me.

"Can you hear me?" Aileen's voice whispered in my head. "Does it work?"

It felt so weird to hear Aileen's voice in my head. It wasn't quite the same as hearing her voice if she were speaking to me directly. I nodded my head at her in answer, and then pressed down on the green jewel.

"Yes. Can you hear me?" I whispered the question so quietly that even if Aileen had been right next to me, she wouldn't have heard.

From across the room, I saw Aileen nod her head and walk back to where I was sitting.

"These could come in handy," Aileen said, "How many do you have?"

"Four. And each one has a different colored stone in the center. Green, blue, red and yellow. The four Hogwarts house colors."

"I wonder what that means," Aileen said. "Who are you going to give the other necklaces too?"

"I'm going to send one to Frank," I said, taking a bite of the strange food I'd seen Aileen eating when I first came in. It tasted like some kind of fruit. "I don't know who I'll give the other necklace too. I don't have any other friends."

Aileen was quiet for a moment and then said,

"What about Sharem?"

"I don't know," I said thoughtfully. "I mean, I only met him a few days ago. The note said to give it to only those I completely trusted. It's not that I don't trust him, it's just that I've only known him for a couple days. I don't think we can be considered best friends just yet."

"Maybe don't give it to him," Aileen said, "just let him borrow it when we bring him back into the forest. It could really help if we were all able to communicate without anyone knowing."

"Okay," I agreed. Suddenly, a thought came to me. "Aileen, what if the necklace doesn't work unless it's owner is in a Hogwarts' house? The house color of the necklace?"

"There's only one way of knowing, Aileen said, standing up. "Ready to go see Sharem?"

"Alright," I said, standing up. "Oh, and should bring some games to play. You know, to take our minds of everything and enjoy Christmas. How about I pack the food and you go get the games?"

"All right," Aileen said, "I'll bring Exploding Snap and Wizard Skittles."

As soon as Aileen left, I began to pack food into my school bag, being as discrete as possible, I packed as much food as I could fit in my school bag. Apparently, I wasn't discrete enough though.

"Alexa?" A voice spoke from behind me as I stood to leave.

I turned to see Dumbledore standing there.

"Yes, sir?" I asked, trying to hide the bag behind my back.

"Might I ask where you are bringing all that food? It's enough to feed four people at least."

"I, I'm having a picnic," I said, thinking quickly. It wasn't a lie, not exactly.

"A picnic?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "In this weather?"

"Oh, no," I said. "I mean, we're having an indoor picnic."

"I see," he said, reaching into a bowl of candy and unpeeling a piece. "I hope you have fun. Merry Christmas, Alexa." He popped the piece of candy in his mouth.

"You too, Proffessor," I said. "Merry Christmas," I turned and all but ran out of the Great Hall. That was a close call.

I wondered how Professor Dumbledore had known my name. There were hundreds of students in Hogwarts, he couldn't possibly know all of our names. I suppose most people here probably knew of me. I was Hogwarts' freak, what with my strange eye and the wooden leg.

I met Aileen at the entrance to the passageway five minutes later.

"I hope we weren't followed," I said as we entered the dark passageway. "It was kind of hard to sneak this much food away. Professor Dumbledore asked me what I was doing with it all. I told him we were having an indoor picnic."

"Did you bring enough for that?" Aileen asked, laughing lightly.

"Yeah," I said, "I'm full though, and I can't possibly eat a morsel of it. But you know how big Sharem's appetite is."

We walked in silence until we neared the room Sharem was in.

"Aileen," I said. "Let's just enjoy Christmas, and try not to worry too much about Sharem and what we're going to do. Let's try to get Sharem's mind of things as well."

"That'll be hard to do, but okay," Aileen said. "We'll just tell him what Hagrid said and play games the rest of the day.

That was exactly what we did for the remainder of the day. For hours we played Wizard Skittles, Exploding Snap, and a muggle game called UNO.

We learned quickly that Sharem didn't like losing, but despite him never having played these games before, he was surprisingly quick to learn and he only lost a few games.

The games worked in distracting Sharem, but it didn't seem to take Aileen's mind off everything. She kept getting a contemplative look on her face and I knew she wasn't thinking about the game.

Despite my earlier comment on being too full to eat, I got hungry halfway through the second game and snacked on the food.

Even though I had only known Sharem for a few days, it felt like he was a friend to me. I wondered if he felt the same.

When I gave Sharem the necklace, I didn't say it was for him to borrow, like I had originally planned. I told him it was a Christmas gift. He seemed a bit confused as to why I had gotten him a necklace for Christmas. I explained that it was a magical necklace and how I had gotten it.

The Jewel in the middle turned blue when Sharem put it on.

"Looks like your a Ravenclaw," Aileen said.

"But I'm not in Hogwarts," Sharem said.

"It must be able to tell what you are," I said. "Just like the sorting hat when you put it on," I said.

"What's a sorting hat?" Sharem asked. "Is it something that sorts you into one of Hogwarts' houses?"

"Yes," Aileen answered. "The first year students are sorted upon arriving. The sorting hat is placed on the students head, and the hat chooses what house they best belong in."

"What's a Ravenclaw?" Sharem asked.

"They're like the smart house," I said. I could see Sharem puffing up a little with pride at that and I had to hold back a grin.

We continued to play games well past curfew. When I could barely keep my eyes open, I was so tired, Aileen and I left, leaving Sharem with the rest of the food.

We had to sneak back to our dormitories, and I was almost caught by Filch, but just managed to escape him and his cat.

As I lay down in my warm bed, I smiled, thinking about the day I had had. As I drifted off to sleep, I remembered I hadn't sent Frank the necklace. Oh well, I would have to do that tomorrow.

 **FINALLY! It's been SO long since I last posted. I'm sorry! I'll try harder to post more often. This is nearly a 10 page chapter. About 3,500 words. Now, if I didn't edit these chapters I would be able to post WAY more. Editing takes just as long if not longer than writing the actual chapter. But, it's got to be done!**

 **I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!**

 **The next chapter will be about them heading off into the forest!**

 **I wonder how many chapters this story has left in it. If I were to take a wild guess, I'd say ten.**

 **Anyhow, I hoped you guys liked this chapter! :) Sorry if Hagrid's dialect is hard to read or confusing! It's a lot harder to write than you would think!**

 **Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!**


	14. First Year, Part 14 (The Twenty-Ninth)

Right after breakfast the next morning, I went to the Owlery to send a letter with the necklace for Frank inside. In my letter to Frank, I told him how to use the necklace to contact me. I also told him I had given two other necklaces to my friends, so when he wanted to contact me he would need to press the red jewel, and none of the others. I didn't think Aileen or Sharem would appreciate Frank contacting them.

The Owlery was located in the West Tower. It was the first time since arriving at Hogwarts that I had been to the Owlery, having had no reason to send a letter to anyone before.  
The Owlery was a circular stone room, with no windows or glass. It was freezing and drafty and my teeth chattered as I made my way across the room to the school owls who sat nestled on their perches that rose right up to the top of the tower.

Once I had sent Frank the letter, I made my way to the giant statue that led to the secret passageway. As I touched the statues fingertips to reveal the entrance, I remembered the night I had discovered this secret passageway. I had seen the fingers glow red. And then again, once in the secret passageway, I had seen the bricks that led to the secret room glow red. Both no longer glowed red, but I still pondered over what it had meant. Why had my left eye seen the two hidden entrances glow, but not my right?

Not for the first time, I wished I had someone to talk to about my eye. But, it was my secret and would remain that way as long as I had any say in the matter.

The whole way to the secret room where Sharem was, I pondered over my eye.

I knew my left eye was magical, that was nothing new. Ever since I had gotten the damaged eye, I had known there was something different about it. It was red, for one thing. It was cold and saw only in black and white. It could see in the dark like an animal or something, and it saw misty color clouds around new people. Now it could see secret entrances glowing, apparently.

For a long time after my left eye changed, I had not known what it meant when I saw colors out of my left eye upon meeting a new person. It still gave me a slight shock every time I saw a burst of color surrounding someone through that eye, it being accustomed to only seeing only in black and white.

Shortly after moving into Aunt Cora's house, I had discovered a book that mentioned auras in the library. It didn't cover much, but it told me the basics of what each color meant. That was the first time I had realized I could see a person's aura upon our first meeting. That's what the strange color clouds that surrounded a person were. Auras.

But what could seeing the entrances to both secret passageways glowing possibly mean? That had nothing to do with auras. I resolved to go to the library and read every book I could get my hands on about magical eyes as soon as this whole Sharem situation was over. I needed to understand what my eye was and why it did the things it did.

When I reached the secret room, I saw that Sharem and Aileen were both already there playing a game of Wizard's Chess. They were both so concentrated on it that they didn't even hear me enter.

I watched the two play as I snacked on some food I had brought. After the first few moments of watching them play, I became bored and turned my mind to other things. Like what we planned to do on the 29th.

The days leading up to the 29th were spent going over the plan again and again until we all had it memorized. We all knew what we were each supposed to do, and how we were supposed to do it.

Before we knew it, Wednesday night had come, and it was time to go.

Aileen, Sharem, and I had waited until well past curfew before we all snuck out. It wasn't as hard sneaking out of Hogwarts as it had been sneaking in. We made our way out onto Hogwarts snow-covered grounds and down to Hagrid's Hut.

Hagrid waited on his front doorstep, a lantern held in one hand to help us see. It wasn't needed though, what with the bright snow that covered the ground.

Hagrid and Sharem exchanged greetings upon meeting each other for the first time, and then Hagrid dug around in his coat, pulling out a brown bottle with a corkscrew. Popping off the lid, he poured a thick, brown liquid onto his palm.

"What's that?" I asked, placing my hands over my nose to cover up the foul smelling stuff coming from the bottle.

"This 'ere is the stuff I was tellin' yer abou'. You need ter coa' yerselves with it ter disguise yer scents."

Aileen covered her mouth and gagged. "What is in that bottle? Dead fish guts?"

"Yer don' wan' ter know," Hagrid said as he rubbed the brown liquid onto his hair, hands, and face.

Hagrid handed the bottle down to me. I took it and slowly poured some into my hands began to rub it into my hair and skin as Hagrid had. I felt like throwing up. I was glad I hadn't had much to eat at dinnertime.

I handed the bottle to Aileen, who hesitantly took it and began to rub it on herself as well.

"Yer don' need any," Hagrid said to Sharem when Sharem took the bottle and was about to pour some into his hands. "They can smell yer, since yer'll be in the open. It's us that'll be hidin'."

"Okay, wonderful," Sharem said, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. He handed the bottle back to Hagrid, who placed the bottle back in his coat.

Hagrid then dug around in his coat and pulled out a handful items that looked like sticks. He handed us each two and placed the rest back in his coat.

"Remember," Hagrid said. "If somethin' wron', light these and it'll alert the professors."

I nodded and placed the sticks in my coat pocket. If the stick was lit, it would set off bright sparks in the sky and make a loud whistling sound. Hagrid had told the professors that he was going out into the forbidden forest tonight to take care of something, but that he might run into trouble. He had said if he needed any help from them, he would set off the stick things to alert them, but that everything would probably be fine.

Professor McGonagall had looked at Hagrid the whole time he'd been talking, and it had looked like Hagrid was about to cave in and tell her everything when he started stuttering under her steady gaze. Aileen had stepped in just in time and said she needed Hagrid to help her with something outside.

Aileen hadn't wanted Hagrid to say anything at all to the professors, but Hagrid had insisted on being as safe about this as possible. He was still convinced it was a bad idea and we should tell the professors. But, not wanting us to be expelled, he wouldn't tell them.

"Whatever you do," Aileen said as she pocketed the two sticks, "Don't set them off unless there is absolutely no other choice. We'll all be in major trouble if the professors have to come help. Alexa and I will be expelled for sure."

We all nodded in agreement at this.

"To light them," I reminded Sharem, "All you need to do is bite the tip."

"Right," Aileen said. "Everyone remembers the plan?" Everyone nodded their heads. "Then let's go."

Unlike last time, we didn't cover our footsteps in the snow once we entered the forbidden forest. If the professors did need to come help us, we wanted them to be able to find us.

Sharem led the way as he was the only one who remembered exactly where the underground forest was. I thought I could find it if I needed to, but I might end up getting lost if I tried by myself.

As we got deeper into the forest, I could see the trees began changing from pine trees to the other kind of trees. The large, creepy-looking kind of trees.

Though we stuck close together, I still felt myself jump in fright every time I heard a sound somewhere off in the distance.

At one point, we saw something scamper away in the woods ahead of us. It was too dark for the others to see what it was, but my left eye caught it. It had only three legs, and it looked like a mix between a rabbit and a dog. I had no idea what it was, but I knew if Aileen had seen it she would've.

When I spotted a particularly large tree, I knew we were here.

"This is it," I whispered to Hagrid as we reached the tree and looked down. "The underground forest we told you about."

In the dark of the night, they couldn't see anything but roots where there should've been a cliff. I saw the cliff through my left eye just as it had been in the daytime.

"I don' see nothin'," Hagrid said, peering down.

"Trust me," I said, "This is it. We just need to climb down these roots and then we'll be in the underground forest."

"If yer says so," Hagrid said. He grasping on to one of the large tree roots and climbed down.

Aileen and I levitated Sharem down before we too followed.

The cliff was deeper than I remembered, and it took a while to reach the bottom. Aileen nearly slipped and fell as soon as she started climbing down, and we had to go slower the rest of the way down.

When we reached the bottom, Hagrid and Sharem waited for us.

"Ter think," Hagrid said, looking around us. "I've been in this fores' a hun'red times and I never came across this place."

"Well," Aileen said, dusting off the snow that had fallen in her hair. "If it makes you feel better, it was only by accident that we stumbled upon it. Literally."

"The Centaurs are not far from here," Sharem said. "This way."

We followed Sharem through the forest until we reached a clearing with mounds of hay spread all over the place.

"We are here," Sharem whispered. I could hear a tremble in his voice as he spoke.

"Where are all the centaurs?" I asked.

"Scattered," Sharem whispered. "I know where my uncle is, though."

"Are yer sure yer wan' ter do this?" Hagrid asked.

"It's not a matter of what I want," Sharem said. "There's no other choice. It's either me or my father. Come with me, Hagrid. I'll show you where my father and my uncle are. Once Uncle Cargem and I leave, you must get Father to follow."

"Wait," I said as Sharem turned to go. He turned around, and I flung my arms around him. He stiffened, keeping his arms at his side and then awkwardly patted my back. I could feel him shaking as I hugged him, and I knew he must be terrified. He was going into the hands of something that wanted him dead.  
"Stay safe," I said. I felt him nod his head, and I let go.

He squared his shoulders and walked into the clearing. I felt a strong urge to stop him, to go back, to forget about this whole plan, but I stayed where I was.

"Righ'," Hagrid said, more to himself than to anyone else as he followed Sharem. "Sharem gets his uncle, I get Sharem's dad, yer girls wait 'ere. Then yer girls follow..." The rest of his whispered words were carried away by the wind as the two got farther into the clearing.

We had decided that it would be best for Hagrid to convince Sharem's dad to come since he had spoken to the centaur's leader before, and Sharem's dad knew who Hagrid was.

Aileen and I stayed behind the tree and watched as Sharem and Hagrid made their way to a large cluster of trees on the far end of the clearing.

Just as I was about to tell Aileen it had been too long, that something had gone terribly wrong, I saw two dark shapes emerge from the cluster of trees.

"That's them," I whispered to Aileen, pointing at the shapes.

"I don't see anyone," Aileen whispered back, squinting in the darkness.

"Trust me," I said, "I've got great night vision. They're coming this way." And they were.

My left eye could see the two clear as day. Sharem walked beside a taller centaur with a long mane of black hair.

The other centaur, Cargem, looked nothing like how he had when I had first seen him. His skin wasn't grey, his teeth weren't pointed, and his eyes definitely weren't red. He looked, beautiful. Cargem was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen in my life.

I remembered what Sharem had said about Vampsherin's appearances. How they were only ever ugly if they wanted to be or if they felt an overpowering emotion.

I also noticed something else. The cloud that surrounded Sharem's uncle was chopped off and jagged-looking. Cargem's cloud was even more jagged looking than any of the other cut off clouds I'd seen. Out of all the people I'd ever seen, only three others had this strange chopped off shape to their cloud. Remus Lupin, Sharem, and Hagrid. What did it mean?

Cargem's cloud was a mix of black and grey; Strength, power, sadness, little emotion, and evil. Even if I hadn't already known Cargem was evil, the cloud around him would've told me.

I couldn't think of anything in common with the four people's clouds that were chopped off. They weren't the same colors. Cargem's was black and grey, Sharem's was red and green, Remus Lupin's had been blue, and Hagrid's cloud had been a dark pink color. A mix of red and pink.

I had been surprised at the pink in the huge man's cloud when I first met Hagrid, but after getting to know him a little, I understood why Hagrid's cloud was dark pink.

Dark pink meant love, caring, warm-hearted, anger, and passion.

Hagrid was a warm-hearted, kind, and loving man, despite what people thought about him due to his size. That was something Hagrid and I shared in common, people always judged us on our outside appearances. Hagrid also had a bit of righteous anger though when it came bullies or if someone said something bad about someone or something he cared about. He cared greatly for magical creatures and was surprisingly gentle with them.

I glanced at Aileen and noticed she was clutching her wand in one hand and the sticks Hagrid had given us in the other.

Grabbing hold of my necklace, I pressed the green jewel in the corner.

 _"Don't set those off,"_ I thought to Aileen.

 _"I'm not,"_ I heard her voice whisper back in my head. She glancing down at her hand in surprise as if she hadn't realized she'd had the sticks in her hand. _"I'm just being prepared."_

I watched as Sharem and Cargem came closer to where we hid behind the tree. For a moment, I thought they were heading directly towards us, but then I saw them go to the left of where we stood.

I didn't dare make a sound as the two dark shapes I knew to be Sharem and his uncle passed by us, not ten feet away. I could hear their hushed voices and then a harsh laugh from Cargem. The sound didn't fit with this beautiful creature. I couldn't make out the words they were saying as the wind carried them away.

My hands shook as I watched them. I slowly reached into my pocket and drew out my wand. I felt a little safer just having it in my hand even though I knew I couldn't do anything with it.

I pressed the blue stone and sent my thought to Sharem. _"Are you alright? Is everything going as planned?"_

I got my answer immediately. "I _'m fine. Everything is going as planned, so far. Be careful."_

Aileen and I kept our eyes glued to the two centaurs, even though all Aileen could see was two dark shapes moving through the forest, I could make them out clear as day.

Once they had walked far enough away from us that they wouldn't hear us following, we crept forward, being as quiet as possible.

Every time Aileen or I crunched the leaves on the ground or snapped a twig, I could feel my breathing stop and my heart stop, waiting to see if Sharem's Uncle had stopped up ahead.  
The wind that rustled the leaves must've concealed any sounds we made though because Sharem's uncle didn't glance back once.

Aileen and I followed them, being careful to stay hidden behind the large trees. If we were caught, everything would be ruined.

Every five feet, Aileen or I would tie a cut piece of red ribbon around a tree, while the other kept their eyes on the two up ahead. It had been Sharem's idea to do this. We didn't know where Cargem planned on taking Sharem, so the only way Hagrid would know where to bring Sharem's father was if he had a trail leading to Cargem and Sharem. We tied the ribbon in two knots to make sure it wouldn't blow away.

After a while of walking through the forest, Cargem and Sharem stopped up ahead of us. Cargem shoved Sharem to the ground and said something to him before leaving.

Aileen and I glanced at each other. Where was his uncle going?

As if Sharem had heard my thoughts, he reached for his necklace and pressed both the red and green jewels in the corner.

 _"He's going to get the stuff for the ritual. He'll be back in a minute."_ I heard his voice say in my head.

Aileen and I dashed as quietly as we could close to where Sharem sat, knowing this was the best opportunity to get close without Cargem seeing us.

 _"Is he using his powers on you?"_ I asked Sharem through the necklace. Aileen and I had also pressed both jewels on our necklace, so we were in a three-way conversation. The two jewels that had been pressed remained down unless you pressed them again to break off contact.

 _"No, he thinks the reason I came back was that his Vampsherin powers attracted me. Just like we planned."_

 _"Good,"_ Aileen I heard Aileen's voice say in my head, " _Let's hope it stays that way. We don't need you giving us away in an attempt to please that monster."_

Just then, I saw Sharem's uncle step through a nearby patch of trees. In one hand, he held a blade shaped like a C. In the other, he held a small satchel.

I could see Sharem pale when he caught sight of the blade. Aileen grabbed on to my arm. She, too, saw what Cargem held in his hand. We were close enough to them now that you didn't need night vision to see them.

"It'll be all over soon," Cargem said. I could make out his words clear now that we were this close.

"Why are you doing this?" Sharem asked.

 _"Sharem,"_ Aileen's voice whispered in my head, even though there was no need to whisper her thoughts. _"Don't question him. He'll know you're not under his power."_

"Why do you think?" Cargem spat. "All my life I've been treated like a monster. All my life, I've had to bow down to those weaker than myself. No more. I will take what's rightfully mine."

Cargem drew a round necklace from his bag and placed it around Sharem's neck, well at the same time ripping off Sharem's triangle necklace and throwing it to the ground.

As soon as the necklace touched Sharem's skin, the necklace glowed faintly and Sharem lurched back in pain.

From his satchel, Cargem pulled out a handful three candles and began to light them. The fire from the candles flickered but didn't go out.

 _"How is the wind not putting out those candles?"_ I heard Aileen ask.

I shook my head and shrugged. _"They must be magical,"_ I thought back. " _Look at the flames, the tips are blood red."_

Cargem took another necklace from his satchel and placed it around his own neck. He winced slightly in pain but continued. He then took a small sack of something out and sprinkled it in a circle around Sharem.

Cargem reached into the satchel and withdrew a large black book. He flipped through the pages.

 _"Aleen,"_ I thought. _"Where is Hagrid and Sharem's father? What if he couldn't find us? Shouldn't they have been here by now?"_

 _"Don't worry,"_ Aileen said _, "For all we know, They are hidden in the trees watching this unfold just like we are."_

 _"What if they're not though? Don't you think Sharem's father would've done something by now? It looks like Cargem's about to start the ritual."_

Aileen didn't respond.

Cargem stepped closer to Sharem and motioned for him to hold out his hand. Sharem did so, if somewhat slowly

With the C-Shaped blade, Cargem slit into Sharem's palm. Sharem let out a small whimper of pain but otherwise held still. He couldn't let Cargem see how much he didn't want to do this.

Squeezing Sharem's hand, Cargem let a few drops of blood fall onto both the pendants they wore. He then released Sharem's palm and with the same blade cut into his own palm, repeating the action.

I could Sharem's jaw clenched tightly, and tears of pain trying to escape his eyes. I wanted nothing more than to rush over and stop this somehow. But if I did that, everything would be ruined, if it wasn't already.

 _"Aileen,"_ I thought desperately. _"We need to do something,"_

" _Wait_ ," Was all Aileen said. How was she so calm?

"Wait?" I asked in disbelief. "Aileen, if we d-" I didn't finish though. A moment too late, I realized I hadn't been thinking those last words. My voice had raised in my panic and I had spoken them aloud. Oh no.

"Who's there?" Cargem snarled, looking around in the trees.

I stilled, barely daring to breathe.

Cargem stepped forward, sniffing the air trying to catch a scent.

"Uncle," Sharem said, glancing around. "There's no one here but us. Please, finish the ritual. I want nothing more than to help you become the leader by sacrificing myself."

Cargem gave Sharem a look of pure disgust. "Shut up, boy." Cargem glanced around again. "Who's there?" he repeated, angry this time. "Come out, and I won't kill you."

I looked at Aileen in terror. He was coming closer. Aileen just held a finger to her lips and mouthed the words 'stay still'.

"Show yourselves," Cargem said.

"Uncle Cargem," Sharem said, a small note of panic in his voice.

His uncle ignored him though and walked directly toward us.  
This was it. The plan hadn't gone as planned, and it was time for Plan B.

I reached into my pocket and pulled the stick out, placing it in my mouth, ready to bite it hard. Maybe the loud whistling noise the stick would make and the sparks it would blast in the sky would scare Cargem enough to run away. Just as I started to bite down on the stick though, I felt Aileen tug hard on my arm, making me drop the stick.

 _"Don't,"_ I heard Aileen say in my head.

I was about to ask her why not, what else we could possibly do when I heard another voice speak.

"Cargem?" Out of the dark woods and into the clearing stepped another Centaur. This centaur looked like an older version of Cargem, with the same pointy ears and dark brown eyes.

Hagrid stood behind him, an angry expression on his face his gaze flickered between Sharem and Cargem.

Cargem's attention was distracted as he turned around, and I felt my breath rush out in a loud whoosh. If it hadn't been for the wind, I knew Cargem would've heard. As it was though, Cargem was focused on the newcomers.

"Brother?" Cargem sounded surprised. "What brings you to this part of the forest on such a cold, windy night?"

 **I did a really quick and sloppy job on the picture, but those are kind of what I imagine the necklaces to look like. Obviously, much realer-looking, though. The necklaces have the just the animals of the Hogwarts houses on them, and not the actual crest and name.**

 **I don't know if you could tell, but I didn't do the best editing job this time. I just barely was able to get this chapter finished!**

 **I can't wait until this book is finished and I can go back and re-write it. There are so many things that I've learned about writing since starting, and I can't wait to implement them when I re-write this. Especially foreshadowing!**

 **Did any of you guys watch the new Harry Potter FanFilm that just came out? Voldimort: Origins of the Heir. If you didn't, you should really check it out! If you did, what did you guys think of it?**

 **I hope you all liked it! And I hope it wasn't too long a chapter for anybody! Nearly 12 pages.**


	15. Part 15 (The Unexpected Outcome)

"Cargem? What is all this?" The centaur, which I presumed to be Sharem's father, had a tone of voice that held authority in it. "What is going on here?"

"Father!" Sharem cried out in relief from where he sat against the tree.

"Who is that, Jhor?" Cargem asked calmly, ignoring Jhor's question and gesturing to Hagrid with his head.

"My name's Hagrid," Hagrid answered immediately.

"What is your business in the in this forest, Hagrid?"

"Cargem," Jhor said sharply, "Answer the question. What is going on here?"

"Whatever do you mean, brother?" Cargem asked, turning his attention to his brother and twirling the blade in his hand. "Sharem and I were just taking a little walk through the forest."

"Why is my son bleeding, Cargem?" Jhor's voice held an edge of steel in it. "Did you cut him with that?" Jhor asked, pointing to the blade in Cargem's hand.

"Of course not," Cargem replied, feigning shock. "We found this blade just lying here on the ground. When Sharem went to pick it up, he cut himself, that is all." Cargem turned to Sharem. "Is not that right, Sharem?"

Sharem shook his head.

"No, father. He did cut me. He is trying to use me for some ritual."

Cargem's mouth dropped open in surprise. I could tell He had expected Sharem to agree, to do anything to please him. I could see the understanding dawning on his face.

Sharem stood and began to move toward his father, but was flung back as soon as he tried to step out of the circle Cargem had created around him. He let out a groan of pain as he hit the tree trunk.

"The boy is clearly confused," Cargem said, regaining his composure. "Maybe the blade had something on it to make his brain go a bit foggy."

"Liar," Sharem said, standing unsteadily. "Father, do not believe him. He is lying to you."

Jhor gave Cargem a confused look.

"Why?" He asked. "Why would you do this?"

"I did not-" Cargem started, but Jhor cut him off.

"Stop lying to me, Cargem!" He snapped. "I saw it with my own eyes. Do you know what I will have to have done to you for this?" Jhor looked pained.

Cargem's innocent expression faded, and he sighed.

"I did not want to have to do this, brother," he said. "But you give me no choice. Hagrid? You know what I want to be done."

Jhor frowned in confusion, as did I. What was Cargem talking about?

From behind Jhor, Hagrid raised his arms high and then brought his large fists down onto Jhors head. Jhor slumped to the ground and lay still.

I stared at Hagrid from behind the tree, my mouth hanging open. What was wrong with Hagrid? Why- It suddenly came to me. Cargem had control over him. That fast.

Cargem sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. He turned back to Sharem.

"I am disappointed in you, Sharem," He said, glaring down at Sharem. "Now, let us get this over with, shall we?"

Sharem looked like he was about to say something, but then I saw his eyes get a glazed look, and he nodded his head in agreement.

I glanced at Hagrid and saw he, too, had that same glazed over look in his eyes. Cargem had control on both of them.

"Aileen," I thought desperately, bringing the sticks I still had in my hand to my lips. "I think it's time we light those sticks."

No sooner had I said this then I heard Aileen mutter a spell under her breath and I felt my body go rigid as I fell the ground, the sticks rolling out of my hand. It took me a second to realize Aileen had cast the Body-Binding curse. On me. From head to toe, I was completely paralyzed.

From where I lay, I saw Aileen bend over and pick up the sticks that had rolled out of my hand. I saw the glazed look in her eyes as she threw them into the woods.

"I don't think Cargem would like it very much if you did that, Alexa." She said.

I stared at her in absolute horror. How had Cargem gotten control of her? How had he gotten control of all of them, in such a short amount of time? That meant he knew Aileen and I were here. Why hadn't he used his powers on me as well then?

From where I lay, I heard Cargem start chanting something in a different language. The wind died down almost immediately, and the forest became darker. I could hear Sharem began to make sounds of pain.

I tried to move, I tried so hard, but my body was paralyzed completely, and I knew it would be a few minutes before the spell wore off. What if it was too late by then?

I looked up at Aileen, looked into her glazed eyes. She was just watching me, no expression on her face.

"Aileen," I thought, trying to sound calm. "Aileen, you need to stop this. He's going to kill Sharem. You need to help him. I know you're in there. Please."

Aileen didn't respond, just kept gazing down at me with that glazed look in her eyes. It was of no use, and I knew it. Cargem had complete control over her. He had control over all of them. Except me, and I was totally helpless.

Cargem's voice was becoming louder as he chanted the strange words, and so was Sharem's sounds of pain. I knew I would never forget those sounds of agony, even if we all got out of this safely.

I felt frustrated tears stream down my face. There was nothing I could do. Why hadn't we told someone, anyone?

"Aileen," I thought desperately, "Aileen! He's going to kill Sharem." I was yelling the thoughts at her, but she didn't even flinch.

Just as soon as the chanted had started, it stopped, and all was dead silent. Sharem's cries of pain had stopped as well. There was no sound whatsoever in the forest. I almost wished Sharem was still moaning in pain. Because that would mean he was alive.

"Girl, come here." I heard Cargem say.

Aileen walked out from behind the tree we had been hiding behind. I couldn't see Aileen but I knew she had walked over to Cargem.

He had said "girl," not "girls." Did that mean he didn't know I was here, after all?

He would kill Aileen and Hagrid, and there was nothing I could do. Sharem might already be dead. Why hadn't we told one of the professors? Why hadn't we told someone? Anyone?

"Now," Cargem said, "what to do with you two."

As Cargem said these words, I begin to feel my toes and fingers that I had desperately been trying to move twitch slightly. The spell was wearing off, and within a few seconds, I would be able to move. But what use was it if I could move or not? Aileen had thrown the sticks we were supposed to use and there was no way I would be able to find a few small sticks in a forest, even though I could see in the dark.

"Best kill you both immediately," Cargem said thoughtfully. "Better yet, have you two kill each other for me and be done with it. You really shouldn't have stuck your noses into others business. Now, you will pay the price."

I felt full feeling come over my whole body and I was able to sit up, poking my head out from behind the tree to see what was going on.

Hagrid and Aileen just stood their, strange admiring smiles on their faces as they listened to Cargem speak. Sharem lay slumped against the tree. From where I was I couldn't tell whether he was breathing or not.

"Yes," Cargem said, more to himself than to them, "Yes, that is what I shall have you do. Girl, take this blade and plunge it into the big man's heart. Kill him," Cargem handed the C-shaped blade to Aileen, "And you," he turned to Hagrid, "Kill her however you see fit."

Both Hagrid and Aileen turned to each other. I could see their faces, and I knew they would do as Cargem asked. Cargem turned his back to them and bent to pick up the large book.

As I watched the scene unfold, feeling terribly helpless, I was about to leap forward and at least try to stop this madness, however hopeless it may be. But, then, something stopped me dead in my tracks. My left eye suddenly saw clouds of color surrounding all three of them.

I had never seen a person's aura twice, and this is what had shocked into stillness. It was always just upon meeting them that I glimpsed their aura, and even then it was only for a couple of seconds. Now, not only was I seeing their auras, but they weren't vanishing like usual. And, it wasn't like the first time I had seen their color clouds.

Instead of the clouds surrounding their whole body, as they usually did when I glimpsed them, they only were at their heads. Not only that, but they were dimmer, more translucent. They weren't even the same color as they had been when I first saw their clouds.

Both clouds that surrounded Aileen and Hagrid were a dim grey color. Emotionless.

Cargem's cloud was pure black, not the dark greyish color it had been the first time.

As my left eye took this all in, I could sense exactly how they all felt, I could feel what they felt. I felt it flow through me everytime my eye landed on one of them. It was like being someone else, only, in a third person perspective. I was still myself, and at the same time, I was them.

I watched, as if in slow motion as Aileen raised the blade in her hand and Hagrid reached both his hands out as if to grab her head and crush it between his hands. I watched as Cargem smirked, and evil smile and tucked the book under his arm, slowly turning to watch the scene.

I watched Aileen move her arm down in a stabbing motion, watched as Hagrid grasped onto her head and Cargem began to raise the book up.

"No," I whispered under my breath. And then more firmly, a determination in my voice. "No."

I didn't know what came over me, or how I did what I did the next moment. I felt something awaken in me. I felt a rush of power run through me.

I simultaneously willed Aileen's and Hagrid's auras to change. I willed with all my might that Aileen's and Hagrid's aura turn back to the colors I had originally seen. I willed the grey to leave them, that Cargem's influence over them would leave. I saw the color return to their clouds immediately.

When I looked at Cargem, I didn't try to change his aura as I had the others. I felt myself pulling at his aura, sucking it toward me. I felt all of his emotions, anger, despair, loneliness, all of them wash over me. I felt myself absorb not only his emotions but his abilities as well. I took it all from him, leaving only an empty shell. He slumped to the ground.

I felt the evil of Cargem's aura wash over me, and for a moment I was him. Evil. But then, I felt chose to push the aura away and returned back to myself again.

Through my right eye, the normal eye, everything began to blur together. My damaged eye felt so cold, like ice, and it was beginning to hurt.

Aileen dropped the blade and shook herself as if she'd just woken up. Hagrid looked down at his own hands in confusion.

I had only a moment to see the surprised expressions on Aileen's and Hagrid's face. I felt warm wetness trickle down my nose and enter into my mouth, tasting like copper. I felt a horrible pain in my head that made me clutch my head and fall to the ground. My eye felt so cold it hurt.

I heard Aileen say my name, and I heard approaching footsteps, but that was the last thing I heard before everything went black, the pain in my head to much to bear.

 _"Alexa, darling, don't touch that," Daddy said, reaching over and grabbing the strange piece of black metal out of my hand._

 _"Why?" I asked, "what is it?"_

 _"It is dangerous," Mommy said, scooping me up into her arms and sitting down in the rocking chair by the fireplace. "It could hurt you if you are not careful."_

 _"But what is it?" I asked again._

 _"It is sort of like a puzzle piece," Daddy said. He flicked his wand at the fireplace and then pulled out one of the bricks. He placed the black piece of metal into the opening. "A secret puzzle piece," he pushed the brick back in place and swished his wand over it, sealing it shut again._

 _"Charles," Mommy said, her tone disapproving, "You should not speak of such things with Alexa."_

 _"Why not?" Daddy asked, scooping me up from Mommy's lap and spinning me around in circles. I giggled madly as he threw me up into the air and caught me. "You can keep a secret, can't you Allygator?"_

 _I nodded my head enthusiastically and Daddy set me back down in Mommy's lap._

 _"What's the secret?" I asked eagerly._

 _"The secret, Alexa," Mommy said, "is that it is somebody's bedtime."_

 _I looked at Daddy pleadingly, but he only chuckled in response._

 _"I didn't get my story though," I pouted, sending hopeful looks to both of them._

 _"It's too late for a story," Mommy said, running her hands through my thick black hair._

 _"Please?" I looked at both of them as I said this. "Just one, little story?" I gave them each a pleading look. I knew the look I gave them always got me what I wanted. All I had to do was make my eyes go all big, turn my lips down slightly at the corners, cock my head to the side ever so slightly, and stare deeply into their eyes. They called it my puppy dog look, but I didn't know what that meant. We had never had a dog._

 _"Well," Daddy said, glancing at Mommy and shrugging his shoulders slightly._

 _"Oh, alright," Mommy said. "But just a short one. I will go get the beds made up." She stood up, handing me to Daddy. "Only a short one," she reminded as she left the room._

 _"Alright," Daddy said thoughtfully, "How about I tell you the story of the three goblins?"_

 _I nodded my head in agreement and nestled my head against him. I had heard this story many times before, but I still loved it every bit as much everytime I heard it._

 _"Once upon a time," Daddy began, "there were three goblins. Together, they could heal and treat any wounds imaginable. But alone, instead of healing creatures, they did more harm than good. And so, they stayed together and went about healing the sick and saving people's lives every day. There was no ailment or wound that these three goblins could not fix, and people came from all over the land to see the goblins."_

 _"I wish I could heal any wound," I said, yawning. "If I could heal any wound, I would do what the goblins did and save people every day."_

 _Daddy smiled down at me. "One day," he continued, "A dark wizard visited the three goblins and demanded they heal him of his wounds he had gotten trying to kill innocent people. The goblins refused to help him, and so just before the dark wizard died, he cast a curse on the three goblins that separated them. They were flung to different parts of the world and were lost to each other. And so, when people came to them individually,"_

 _"What does individually mean?" I interrupted sleepily._

 _"It means just one of them instead of all three of the goblins. When people came to the goblins by themselves instead of all together, instead of healing them, each goblin only made matters worse. As you know, they all needed each other to properly heal people.  
They searched for each other, years and years, but somehow they never found each other. Every time they neared one another, they gave up hope and quit looking for a time, not knowing that if they had just looked around the corner, they would have found what they sought. After years and years of searching…"_

 _Daddy's calm, relaxing voice slowly made me drift off to sleep and his words slowly faded as I fell deeper and deeper into sleep._

 _I faintly felt myself being detached from the warmth and comfort of Daddy's arms and placed in bed, but I was too sleepy to protest._

 _I felt myself suddenly awaken that night though when I heard loud knocks coming from downstairs. I sat up in bed and went to my bedroom door, tugging it open. I walked to the top of the stairs in the long hallway and peered down._

 _I saw Daddy at the door, talking quietly to a dark figure standing in the doorway. Mommy was beside him and glanced up when she heard me at the top of the stairs. She whispered something to Daddy and the dark figure and Daddy stepped outside and closed the door._

 _"Honey," Mommy said tiredly, walking up the stairs and to my side. "What are you doing out of bed?"_

 _"I heard knocking sounds, it woke me up. Who was Daddy talking too?"_

 _"Just a friend," Mommy said as she grabbed hold of my hand and walked me back to my room._

 _When I crawled back in bed, Mommy tucked the covers in around me tightly. "Go back to sleep now. I will stay until you have fallen back asleep."_

 _Feeling safe and snug, I felt my eyelids close as I immediately drifted back to sleep._

I woke up to the sound of voices talking quietly. My mind felt foggy and I couldn't think straight. It took me a moment to recognize the voices above me.

"What if she doesn't wake up though?" Frank had a hint of worry in his voice.

"She will wake up, Mr. Lonbottom," Madam Pomfrey said. "Give her time. I know what I'm doing."

"That's what you said yesterday, though," Frank argued.

I tried to open my eyes, but they felt glued together. I opened my mouth instead and tried to speak. All that escaped my lips was a croaking sound. The inside of my mouth felt like sandpaper.

"There," I heard Madam Pomfrey puff out in relief, "There, see? I told you she would wake up."

I felt a hand behind cup my neck and a cup at my lips. I opened my mouth and let the water enter. After a moment, I grasped the cup myself and drank eagerly, as if it was the first drink I had had in days.

"Alexa?" It was Aileen's voice.

I finally managed to peel one of my eyelids open and look around me.

I was in the Hospital wing at Hogwarts. Frank, Aileen, and Madam Pomfrey stood over me, gazing at me expectantly.

Madam Pomfrey was a woman in her mid 30's, with kind-looking blue eyes and dark brown hair that had a few wisps of grey in it. She had been employed here at Hogwarts only a few months earlier, right around the time that I arrived at Hogwarts.  
I had visited the Hospital wing on more than one occasion. Not because I had an injury or anything, but so that I could speak to Poppy about the magical art of healing, and watch her take care of her patients. She hadn't allowed it at first, but after seeing my keen interest in healing, she let me watch her, as long as I hadn't disturbed her patients, whom she was very protective over.

After I had finished the glass of water, I looked at Poppy and the others in confusion.

"What happened?" I asked, completely confused as to why I was here. I tried to sit up but Poppy wouldn't allow it.

"You hit your head, dear," Madam Pomfrey said, "You need to rest." She refilled the glass I had emptied and handed it to me.

"Do you remember what happened?" Frank asked gently.

I looked at him for a moment with a blank stare on my face. When had Frank gotten back from Christmas Break? Christmas Break… Something had happened on Christmas break. Something important.

"According to Camio," Frank said "she was teaching you how to fly on her broomstick and you fell off from thirty feet up in the air. She said you hit your head and wouldn't wake up."

It took me a second to realize he was talking about Aileen when he said Camio.

"I fell?" I asked, shaking my head to clear it. There was something at the edge of my brain, something I was trying to remember but it was a little foggy.

"That is right," Aileen said. There was a warning in the look she gave me that I didn't understand.

I felt so disoriented. What was Aileen talking about? I didn't fall off a broomstick. I, I… What? Then images began to flood back to me as it all began to slowly come back to me. I looked at Aileen in realization as I remembered everything.

"Sharem?" I asked immediately, looking to Aileen for an answer.

"Sharem?" Frank asked in confusion. "Who's that?"

"That's the name of my broomstick," Aileen said quickly.

Frank gave her an odd look. "You named your broomstick Sharem?"

Aileen ignored him and looked back at me. "Sharem didn't make it, Alexa." Her voice held sorrow in it, and I could tell she wished Poppy and Frank weren't here.

I looked at her in shock. I didn't say anything. I had so many questions, but I couldn't voice them just yet. I knew what Aileen's warning look had meant now, and I knew I had to go along with whatever story she had told Poppy and Frank.

I felt my throat began to close up and tears sting my eyes. Shrem was gone. Memories of the short time we had spent together came flashing back to me, one after the other.

"Don't look so upset, Alexa," Frank said. "It wasn't your fault if the broom broke. Camio shouldn't have been letting you ride that broom in this kind of weather when you don't even know how to ride." He gave Aileen a look as he said this and Aileen glared right back.

I blinked back my tears forced a smile for Frank. "How long was I out for?" I croaked.

"Two weeks," Madam Pomfrey said. "You would not wake up for anything. I've dealt with plenty of patients who were injured due to one of those broomsticks, but I've never seen someone go into a coma after falling off one. The lump on your head wasn't even all that big, either. I always said those things were dangerous and not suitable for children."

I let this all sink in quietly. I had been in a coma. For two weeks.

 ** _I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! So, what did you think? Did it have the outcome you expected? ;)_**

 ** _I also just posted a chapter on my other work, which is a non fiction book on writing. For those of you who write and are looking to improve, please check it out! :-)_**


	16. Part 16 (The Strong Resolution)

Aileen and Frank left for classes a few minutes later, Frank giving me a worried look. Aileen promised me before she left she would be back to tell me everything that had happened around Hogwarts while I was in a coma. What she meant was that she would tell me what happened after I blacked out.

"Poppy," I asked once Aileen and Frank had gone. "How long do you think I'll need to stay here for?"

"As soon as you feel well enough to go back to classes, dear," Madam Pomfrey answered, "I've never dealt with a case like this before, so I'm not sure exactly when that will be. You must gain your strength back and get meals in you before you're well enough to leave." She slid the curtains around my bed shut. "Now get some rest."

I resisted the urge to tell her I had been resting for two weeks, and that I needed no more rest, thank you very much. But, I did want to be alone.

I let the tears escape my eyes now that there was no one to see. We had failed. I had failed. I had been so sure that Sharem would be safe. That we had it all under control. I couldn't believe it. Just like that, he was gone. Forever. I would never see him again. I would never again get to play Wizarding Chess and have him beat me at it every time.

I brought my hands to my mouth to drown out the noises had started to make and saw that my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I bit down hard on my fist, trying to stop the uncontrollable sobbing that escaped me.

I didn't remember falling asleep, but I was awoken by a hand gently shaking me. I looked up to see Aileen standing over me, her finger to her lips that told me to be silent.

I sat up in surprise, causing a rush of dizziness to sweep over me.

It was dark around me and Madam Pomfrey was nowhere in sight. I figured it must be past curfew.

"Come with me," Aileen whispered, motioning for me to hurry and get up. She glanced around nervously as if expecting Madam Pomfrey to jump out any minute and yell at her for disturbing her patients.

I pushed off the covers and slowly stood, wobbling a little as I did so. My head spun and my legs shook. I felt weak and drained of all energy. I guess that's what happened to you when you hadn't moved in two weeks.

After I had gotten control of my limbs and didn't feel like I would land back on the bed any moment, Aileen and I tiptoed quietly out of the Hospital Wing , being careful not to wake any of the sleeping patients.

"Where are we going?" I asked once we were out, keeping my voice low in case Filch was around. The dimness of the hallways and the lack of students bustling about confirmed that it was past curfew.

"Somewhere we can talk about what happened without being heard," Aileen replied.

We came to a painting of an old night sleeping peacefully. Aileen stopped and pushed the picture to the side. Behind us, I heard a faint sound and turned around. The wall had opened to reveal a dimly lit passage. Aileen and I slipped in quietly, the entrance closing behind us with a slight creaking noise.

"You found another passageway?" I asked. "Where does it lead?"

"It's more of a room than a passageway," Aileen said, lighting her wand. She went around a bend and her wand revealed me a small room of sorts, with couches and chairs and a small fireplace that wasn't lit.

We sat down on two of the chairs and Aileen lit the fireplace with her wand.

I nibbled nervously on my fingernails, waiting for Aileen to speak.

"How much do you remember?" Aileen said after a moment.

"I remember everything," I said, "Up to the moment I passed out. What happened after I passed out? What happened to Sharem?" My voice caught on his name.

"Cargem had control over me," Aileen said. "I was ready and willing to do anything he asked of me. Then, suddenly I felt his control over me vanish. It was like I had been dreaming or something. When I came back to my senses, I realized I had been about to stab Hagrid." Aileen fidgeted with her wand as she spoke. "I saw you standing over by our hiding place, your nose bleeding. Then, you passed out," She looked at me curiously. "But, before you fainted, I saw your eye. It was red."

"Aileen," I said, "My eye is always red. You only just noticed that?"

"It was glowing red," She said, "Then, it went upward as you fainted and it was black. It was the weirdest thing."

"That is weird," I agreed. I felt a little nervous with the way Aileen was studying me like I was some kind of foreign creature. "What happened next though?" I asked. "It's everything that happened after that moment I don't recall."

"Well," Aileen said, "Hagrid and I rushed over to you. We tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't even flinch. You didn't seem hurt, besides the bleeding nose which had stopped. You just seemed to be asleep or something. Cargem was alive, but he wasn't himself. He had just fallen to the ground and stayed there, staring unseeingly up at the sky. It was like he had completely numbed, lost himself, you know? He was alive, but it was like he was dead."

I felt myself shiver. I had done that to him. While I didn't regret doing it, I had done it to save my friends, I felt scared knowing I could do something like that to someone. That I had that kind of dark power in me.

"And Sharem," She paused as if she was having difficulty getting the words out. "Well, Sharem, he was gone." Aileen coughed as if she had something stuck in her throat. "We tried to bring him back, but it was useless."

Instead of tears streaming down my face, I felt a numb feeling. Like I had cried out all the tears I had, and now there was nothing left. "Go on," I said after Aileen had been silent for a minute. "Then what happened?"

"Well," She continued, "When Sharem's father, Jhor, woke up, he was seemed to break when he found out Sharem was dead. He kept saying it was all his fault, that he should have known Cargem was doing this. A few other centaurs heard his cries and felt it between their bonds with their leader and came rushing in, ready to help. But, of course, it was too late."

"What happened to Cargem?" I asked. "Is he still alive?"

"No," Aileen shook her head. "After Jhor got over the initial shock of finding his son dead, he drew his bow and arrow and just shot Cargem in the chest. Over and over. It seemed like he had gone mad with grief. It was awful, Alexa. I mean, I know Cargem was evil and deserved all he got, but to see Jhor like that… He just kept shooting his brother in the chest, arrow after arrow, even after Cargem was dead. He only stopped when another centaur, Bane, I think his name was, stepped in and said something to him in a low voice. He seemed to get control over himself then. He noticed we were there and-"

"Did he hurt Hagrid?" I interrupted, remembering that it had been Hagrid who had knocked Jhor out.

"No," Aileen said. "He only blamed himself for what happened, not Hagrid. In fact, he thanked Hagrid and me for trying to save his son. Jhor knew it hadn't really been Hagrid when he knocked him out. Then Jhor took Sharem in his arms and walked slowly back where they had come from, all of the other centaurs following."

"What did he do with Sharem?" I asked. "Do you know?"

"They buried him. That same night, under the stars," Aileen said, "It was like a normal funeral, only the centaurs spoke a lot about stars and fate and stuff. I didn't really understand a lot of what they were saying. It was sad, but it felt peaceful somehow."

"You were there?" I asked in surprise. I briefly wondered how Aileen knew what normal funerals were like. Had she ever been to one?

"Yes," Aileen said, "Hagrid and I. That other centaur, Bane, told us we could come along since we were friends of Sharem's. So, we followed them. Speaking of which," She reached into her robe pocket and withdrew something on a chain I immediately recognized. "I found this lying on the ground," She said, handing me the necklace. "I figured you might want it back."

I took it gingerly, remembering when I had given it to him. The moment I had decided he was one of my closest friends and could be trusted. Truthfully, I had already known he was my friend, despite him not being human, before that moment. I just hadn't realized it.

"Thank you," I said, clutching the necklace tightly to my chest, "I can't imagine ever giving this to someone else, though. It would be like giving something that is Sharem's away."

"Don't be in a hurry to give it away then," Aileen said. "Keep it as a reminder of Sharem."

I nodded in agreement and placed the necklace around my neck, the pendant resting next to my other one. The color of Sharem's necklace changed when I clasped it around my neck from blue to red.

"Well," Aileen said, "On a positive note, Hagrid found something interesting on the way back to the castle."

"What?" I asked.

"A puppy."

"A puppy?" I asked, confused.

"Yes," Aileen said. "Well, it's the size of a full grown dog, but it's a puppy. When we were on the way back, we heard a dog crying. I told Hagrid we should hurry and get you back to the castle, but he wouldn't listen. Hagrid found a litter of puppies and their mother leaving quickly. But one of the puppies, the runt, stayed behind, crying for its mother. Its mother had abandoned it though because it was a runt and whatnot."

"That's awful," I said, "It's mother it, just because it was smaller than the rest?"

"That's the way of things," Aileen said, "When an animal senses her child is too weak to survive, she will not waste her energy on keeping it alive. Anyhow, Hagrid took the puppy back to his hut, and it's there now."

"That's sweet of Hagrid to do," I said. I was too focused on thinking about Sharem to truly care about the puppy at the moment though.

"Hagrid hasn't decided what he will name it yet," Aileen said, "Though, I suggested the name Faintheart or Jellyfish. The puppy looks ferocious, but he is a total wimp. The thing tried to bury itself inside in Hagrid's coat everytime it heard a branch crack in the forest."

"Aileen," I whispered, "I didn't get to say goodbye."

Aileen was silent, not knowing what to say.

"I didn't," my throat felt clogged and I had to clear the lump from it. "I didn't think our plan would fail. If only we had told the professors. If only-"

"Don't," Aileen interrupted in a firm voice.

I looked at her in confusion. "Don't what?"

"We can not blame ourselves for what happened. We did all we could. There's no use in dwelling on what we could have done differently. What's done is done."

"No, we didn't do all we could!" I exclaimed, startling Aileen enough that she jumped slightly. I lowered my voice. "We didn't, Aileen. We could've told the professors. But no, we cared too much about getting expelled than whether or not Sharem died. We put him in danger, for our own selfish reasons. We could've done things differently, and then Sharem would still be alive." The last words were barely audible,

"No," Aileen said,"No, it was not our fault. We tried, Alexa. If it weren't for us, he would've died earlier the day we first found him. And Cargem would've lived. He would still be alive right now. If it weren't for you, Alexa, Cargem would be alive right now."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying my best to feign confusion. How did Aileen know I had done anything to him?

"Don't look at me like that," Aileen said in annoyance. "I'm not stupid, you know. I know it was you who did that to him. I don't know how, but somehow you and that freakish eye of yours did that to him."

"Freakish eye?" I asked, hurt edging my voice." I turned my back to her like a child giving someone the silent treatment.

"I'm sorry, Alexa," Aileen said, though she didn't sound sorry. "But, you need to stop being so childish and accept that it's freakish."

I whirled around on her. "You don't think I know?" I yelled. Aileen looked utterly taken aback. I had never yelled at anyone before, and I knew I shouldn't be now, but I was hurt and angry at Aileen's careless words. "Don't you think the stares everyone gives me is enough to let me know my eye is freakish? Don't you think the things they whisper right in front of me as if I wasn't even there is enough to let me know? You have no idea how it feels Aileen. Trust me," I looked down at my legs. "I know I'm a freak. You don't need to point it out."

"I didn't say you were a freak," Aileen said, sighing tiredly, "And you're right, I don't know how it feels. But guess what?"

"What?" I asked. glaring down at my lap.

"Everybody has problems and things they don't like about themselves. You may think yours are so much worse than everyone else's. But everyone is given their own set of problems in life. And everyone feels that their problems are worse than others. But that's not true. You need to stop feeling so sorry for yourself because of your eye and your leg. It's part of you, Alexa. Accept it and make the best out of it."

I stared at her. "You don't understand-"

"No," She agreed again. "And you don't know how my problems feel. We've both got problems, and we both need to deal with them and stop feeling so sorry for ourselves all the time."

"What problems do you have?" I asked, "I don't see you having any problems. Ever."

"Because I don't show I am," She answered. "I don't let my problems get so much. I view them as what they are and get over it. That's not the point though. What I'm trying to say is you need to stop victimizing yourself. You need to embrace who you are, the good and the bad. You need Voldemort hurt and insulted when someone points out your flaws, because if you embrace who you are, even the bad things, their words can't get to you. Because you know what they say is true and you're okay with it. Or, you know what they say isn't true, and you're okay with it, because you know the truth, and that's all that matters."

"That's easier said than done," I said, chuckling to let her know I wasn't angry anymore. I knew Aileen was only trying to help, in her way, and not trying to be mean.

"Yes," She nodded her head. "I know it is. But, you need to accept that bad things happen. You need to make the best out of your circumstances. Not wallow in self-pity and constantly be thinking "What If's." We did the best we could with Sharem, and there's no use dwelling on what we did wrong. It's done."

"I know you're right," I said quietly. "But, I can't help how I feel. I just wish we had done things differently, you know? And I can't help wishing that. I will try, though."

"Anyway," Aileen said, "back to the topic we were originally talking about. How did you do that to Cargem? And don't even try to deny it, Alexa Carrington." She gave me a look.

I sighed in exaggerated defeat. "Darn," I said. "I thought I'd distracted you enough to forget about that little piece of knowledge."

"Not a chance," She said, smirking. "Tell me, is there more to your eye than meets the eye? Don't smile, I'm serious. And why didn't you tell me?"

"Well," I said nervously. "There might be. I didn't want to tell you because, well, I thought you'd think I was weirder than I already was and not be my friend or something." It sounded silly, but it was true.

"Why would I not be your friend because your eye has some kind of ability? I don't care that it's not "normal." Normal is boring. Now, tell me about your eye. Can you control people or something? How did you make Cargem stop what he was doing?"

"Well," I started. "I don't know how I did that back in the forest. I've never done anything like it before. I think it's what made me go into a coma. I think it was too much power for me to handle all at once like that. I knew before that my eye had strange abilities, but nothing like that."

I told Aileen how my eye had always seen colors, and I told her about what I had experienced in the underground forest. I told her how I could see people's Aurors, and how I had seen her aura the first day I met her. Aileen listened in fascinated silence, only interrupting me a few times to ask a question. After I finished telling her, she just looked at me.

"So," She said after a moment. "Do you think your eye can do even more than what you know it can? Do you think it has undiscovered abilities?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. It could."

"Alexa," Aileen said, a hint of excitement in her voice. "if you could learn to control these abilities of yours, do you have any idea how powerful you would be?"

"No," I said, looking at her quizzically. "I don't want to be powerful, Aileen. I want to be normal."

"Think of all the things you could do if you were able to control people?" Aileen got a faraway look in her eye.

"I don't want to control people," I said. "It's wrong."

"No it's not," She argued. "Sure, you could use it for evil. But, you could also use it for good. Where you really just born with that eye and leg?"

I looked down at my lap. "No, I wasn't born like this," I confessed.

"Than how-"

"I don't want to talk about that," I interrupted.

Aileen remained quiet and I looked up at her.

"It was Voldemort," I said abruptly. Even though I didn't want to relive the memories, I wanted Aileen to know. I didn't want to continue to keep secrets from her.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Voldemort? Why would he do something like that?" She asked.

"I had no idea," I said. "I was only eight years old when it happened. He, he came into our house. He and some others dressed all in black robes. He killed my parents." I found the words hard to say out loud, but I continued. "He killed them and then he tortured me. I don't know why he didn't kill me, or why he made my eye like this. I don't know why he took my leg away, either. It never made any sense to me, why he would do that. Sometimes though, I wish he would've killed me rather than curse me like this."

Aileen stared at me.

"Alexa," She said. "I had no idea. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," I said, wiping a tear from my eye. The compassion on Aileen's face was so uncharacteristic of her, and it unnerved me. "It wasn't your fault. But, do you see why I hate this eye and my wooden leg so much? Besides the obvious reasons, it's a constant reminder of that night. A constant reminder of him. Voldemort. He made me like this. He took everything from me and left me damaged. It's crazy how you can lose everything in such a short time. Maybe he knew it would be kinder to kill me rather than o let me live with the memories and the scars. Who knows, maybe that's why he left me alive."

"No," Aileen said. "That can't be it. Voldemort would never give someone else such powers without a reason that benefited him somehow."

I shrugged. "I don't know why he did it. I don't care, really. As you said, what's done is done."

"Alexa," She said hesitantly. "If you can learn to control abilities of yours, don't you realize all the good you could do When you get older? Don't you realize all the people you could help? They would never have to deal with the loss of their families and all they knew at the hands of Voldemort and his followers. Like I had to."

"What do you mean?" I asked incredulously. "What do you mean how you had to?"

"Nothing," She said quickly. "I didn't mean that. I meant to say how you had to."

"Well," I said. "I don't see how this cursed eye could do anyone any good. It's an instrument of evil, Aileen. It's meant to do bad things."

"What are you talking about?" She asked. "You saved our lives back in the forest. Don't you think that was a good thing?"

"Yes," I agreed. "It had a good outcome. But, how I achieved it wasn't good. It was, evil. I stripped him of everything. And well I don't regret doing that, I never want to do it again to somebody else."

"Have you read the daily profit lately?" Aileen asked suddenly.

"Yes," I said. "The things that are happening are horrible. A couple of weeks ago a whole family was slaughtered. Just because they were Muggle-born. Why do you ask?"

"Innocent people are dying left and right, and there is a war coming. If you can figure out how to harness the powers you have, you can do so much to help."

"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "I'm only eleven. I don't plan on fighting in this war."

"You're not always going to be eleven. And it doesn't matter how old you are. When they come to kill you because you're not on their side, do you think they will care how old you are? Voldemort doesn't care. If you're not with him, you're against him and he has a habit of killing those who are not on his side. We all need to learn how to defend ourselves, but you have such an advantage. You could save countless people. Didn't you tell me you wanted to be a healer one day?"

"Yes," I answered hesitantly. I didn't like where Aileen was going with all of this.

"And what do healers do?" She asked. "They save people."

"But, even if I got control over whatever power is in my eye, I don't want to ever do what I did to Cargem to anyone else. I don't want to have the ability to strip someone of who they are."

"Alexa, just consider it. You may not have to strip them of their self. You said you changed mine and Hagrid's aura back to the right color. You may be able to manipulate someone's aura, to change it. What if you could actually change someone's evil aura to good? Think of all the good you can do? Without doing anything evil yourself."

"I guess," I said, hesitantly, and then more firmly, "You're right. But I don't know if I'll ever be able to control it though," I yawned loudly. "I don't suppose there's a book on magical eyes you've read? How am I suppose to learn how to control these powers?"

"I'm not sure," Aileen said, leaning back in the chair. "I'll help you figure it out. We can research, talk to people, and you can practice trying to do things. Just think of how many people you could save if you learned how to use your eye?"

"Okay," I agreed. "I will try to learn. I already planned on researching auras in the library once I got well again. Maybe I'll find something useful. But, I will be stuck in the Hospital Wing for at least another few days."

"While, well you're in the Hospital Wing, I'll look for books on the subject. When you get out, we can both read up on them every day."

"Really?" I asked, smiling slightly. "You would do that for me? Spend your free time researching?"

"If it will help you someday be able to help countless others," she said. "Of course I will. This is so much bigger than just you or me. I don't think you realize just how useful this could be. If it was not essential to keep this a secret from everybody else, I would suggest we get everybody to help you. But, you can't go letting everyone know you have these powers. That would be dangerous."

"Of course," I said, horrified at the idea. "I had a hard time telling you. I certainly wouldn't go about telling the whole school."

"Well then," Aileen said. "I think you should go back and get some rest, and as soon as I can tomorrow, I'll start looking for books in the library."

"Alright," I said, standing up slowly. "We could come back here to study them. It's very cozy in here."

Aileen and I headed back to the Hospital Wing, being careful to blend in with the shadows and stay close to the walls in case filch was lurking about.

Suddenly I heard footsteps up ahead of us. We glanced at each other and quickly hid in the darkness.

"Isn't Filch just going to be the happiest man alive tomorrow?" I heard someone ask.

"Oh yes," another voice replied merrily, "his cat too. I think they both may just burst from pure joy."

I could hear the voices just up ahead of us, but I saw no one.

"I can't believe we didn't think of this before," The first voice said again. "It's brilliant. Just think of all the pranks we could pull with this stuff, Sirius?"

"Not-" the second voice cut off abruptly and there were some shushing noises and shuffling sounds as the footsteps ran the other direction.

Aileen and I gave each other a confused look at this. There had been no one there, and yet we had heard them not ten feet ahead of us.

A moment later, a pair of prefects walked by, patrolling the corridor. I pressed myself against the cold stone wall and hoped we wouldn't be seen.

The pair of prefects passed us without a glance our way and rounded the corner ahead.

I let out a sigh of relief. After a few moments, Aileen and I continued on our way back to the Hospital Wing. We made it there with no more problems.

We said goodnight and Aileen left, promising to come back tomorrow with more information on what books she had found.

I lay back in my bed, closing the curtains around me. I lay there for a while, just thinking about stuff. If I could actually stop evil people from harming the innocent, I would do everything I could to learn how. Even if that meant spending all my free time studying for hours on end, I would find away. Aileen had been right; I could be of great use against evil. If I only knew how to control my abilities.

If only I had known how to control them before, maybe I could've stopped Cargem before he did what he did. If I had known earlier how to do what I had done to Cargem, Sharem wouldn't be dead right now.

I fell asleep, fingering the other necklace that now lay around my neck and thinking of Sharem and all the things we could have done differently.

 **Finally! I'm back on a** ** _consistent_** **writing schedule. True, it's not as good as it was in the beginning, as I wrote every week back then, but it's CONSISTENT! For a while there, it was all just random.**

 **I'll be posting every two weeks, on Sundays, possibly sooner if I have a chapter ready before then.**

 **I hope you all liked this chapter! :) Despite it's lengthiness and the fact that I didn't "polish" it as much as I usually do.**

 **Thank you all so much for liking and reading this story! Thank you even more to those few of you have been there since the beginning, and still stuck with this story this far! Thank you so much guys! :D It means a lot to me!**


	17. First Year, Part 17 (The New Patient)

At lunchtime the next morning, Aileen came and told me she had only found one book that may be useful in the hour of searching she had done in the library that morning.

The book was named 'Strange Powers & Uncommon Abilities.' Aileen said she had no idea if it would be useful or not, but it sounded promising. She gave me the book to read while I was stuck here in the Hospital Wing and said she would keep looking for other books.

Aileen had stayed only a few minutes, promptly leaving when Frank showed up.

The two bumped shoulders, both glaring at the other, as Aileen departed, and neither apologized for doing so.  
I could understand Aileen's coldness towards Frank; She was like that with most everyone, especially Gryffindors. But, it wasn't like Frank to be so rude to anyone. Even a Slytherin.

"How are you doing," Frank asked as he sat down on the edge of my bed. "Here," he leaned over and handed me a pile of small rice cakes. "I brought you some rice cakes from breakfast. They're Apple Cinnamon, your favorite."

"Thank you," I said, placing them in my lap. "They rarely have this kind at breakfast. I don't know why though, it's much better than Banana."

I nibbled on them thoughtfully before answering his question.

"I'm doing better," I said, "I don't get as dizzy when I stand up anymore, only a little lightheaded. Madam Pomfrey thinks I'll be just like new in a day or two."

"That's great," Frank said, "For a while there, you had me and your friend real worried."

I laughed lightly "Who? Aileen? She doesn't strike me as the type to worry about much."

"Well," He said, "The girl has a face carved from stone, so I couldn't really tell what she was feeling. Unless she was annoyed or mad. Those two emotions seem to be the only facial expressions she has. Why are you friends with her, anyway? She doesn't strike me as the type of person you'd be friends with."

"She's not like that once' you get to know her," I said, quick to defend her, "She's only like that to people she doesn't know. Besides, she has a thing against most Gryffindors. You know how Slytherins and Gryffindors are with each other. Don't take it personally."

"I guess," he said dismissively, leaning back against the bed frame. "Anyway, guess what James and Sirius did?"

"James Potter and Sirius Black?" I asked. "Two of the rudest boys I've ever met? What prank did they pull this time?"  
I asked, knowing already that it had something to do with Filch from the snippets of conversation Aileen and I had heard the other night between the two boys. I still didn't understand how we hadn't seen them but had heard them clear as day.

"They duck-taped Filch to his bed," Frank said, a large grin appearing on his face. "And then dyed his hair bright red. They also dyed Mrs. Noris's fur a bright pink color."

"How did they manage that?" I asked. "Don't you think Filch would wake up if someone was taping him to his bed and dying his hair? I know I would."

"I don't know how they did it," Frank said. "The pair won't confess that they're the ones who did it. They blamed the Prewet Twins."

"How do you know it was them and not the Prewet Twins?" I asked. "Gideon and Fabian would definitely do something like that."

"Because," Frank said, "Professor McGonagall cast a Reverse Spell on Sirius's and James's wands and the last spell they had used had been some kind of sleeping spell. She determined it was indeed them and they got two weeks worth of detention and had to apologize to Filch."

"I wish I could have been there to see that," I said, chuckling. "I bet they hated that part."

"Professor McGonagall said they shouldn' have known how to cast such a spell," Frank continued, "She asked where they had learned it, and they said a friend had taught them. They wouldn't say any more about it. But I bet I know who it was that taught it to them."

"Who?" I asked.

"What friend do they have that could possibly know advanced spells?" Frank asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, shaking my head in confusion.

"Remus Lupin, of course," Frank said. "He reads a lot, and I bet he would know some advanced spells."

"Maybe," I said doubtfully. I didn't think Remus Lupin would be a part of such a prank, though.

I didn't know him, but it didn't fit his personality at all. Of all the pranks I had witnessed come from that group, which were quite a few, Remus had never joined in. It was always Potter or Black. Sometimes Peter Pettigrew aided them. From what I could tell, Remus always just looked on in either slight amusement or mild disapproval. Remus had never even gotten a detention, that I knew of.

"Why do you suppose they keep doing stuff like this when they know they'll get in trouble for it?" I asked.

Frank shrugged. "Don't know, but that's not all they did. Right before breakfast, they had automatic stink bombs go off in Filch's chambers. There was nothing Filch could do but scream in anger. After a while, one of the professors went in there and untaped him."

"That's so mean," I said, even though I was smiling in amusement. "Poor Filch. Those two deserved two weeks and more of detention."

"It served Filch right though," Frank said. "You know how he is. Two weeks of detention was well worth it. To see Filch with blazing red hair and a face so tinted with fury it matched his hair. Mrs. Noris hasn't been seen after everyone burst into laughter at breakfast. I think the cat's hiding from everyone. If you go to meals today, you can see Filch with his red hair. It's rather funny. The professors can't get the red out of his hair, and it won't fade away for a day or two."

"I wish I could, but I'm not up to that just yet," I said regretfully, though in truth I was could attend meals. I just didn't want to. "By the way," I said, "Did you get the necklace I sent you? You never contacted me through it, so I didn't know."

"Oh yeah," He said, pulling the chain out from beneath his school robe. "I tried to contact you, but you didn't respond. I thought I just didn't know how to work the thing. But it was probably because you were in a coma, now that I think about it. Here, let me try now." He stood up.

"You don't need to physically speak," I told him, "Just think the words to me."

He strode to a few beds away from mine.

'Like this?' Frank's voice sounded in my head.

'Yes,' I thought back.

'That's wicked!' he exclaimed out loud, then continued in thoughts, 'Does this mean I can contact you even when we're in classes and no one will be the wiser?'

'Yes,' I thought back to him, even though he was back to my bed now. 'I'm not sure how far away you can be, but so far it's worked every time we've used it."

"We?" He asked aloud as he seated himself back down on my bed.

"Aileen, myself, and Sha-" I cut myself off in realization, "And, now you," I blurted to cover up my slip up. Frank didn't seem to notice.

"Where did you get them from?" he asked.

I told him about how I had gotten the necklaces and about the note that came with it. We talked about who it could've been. Frank suggested Dumbledore because he was "a peculiar man." but I didn't think it was him.

Frank stayed with me until classes were about to start, and he had to go or he would be late.

I remained in bed for the rest of the day and read the book Aileen had given me. It was quite fascinating, really. It discussed many strange abilities people were known to have had at one point or another.

One witch from 1805 had been said to have magical fingers. Whenever she touched something, it would temporarily turn to metal. A wizard which could still alive today could change his entire appearance in less time than you could blink.

A lot of the abilities it talked about were considered to be myths or just tales. Others went into deep detail and were most certainly real.

I only stopped reading the book to eat and the times Aileen or Frank popped in to say hello.

Around dinnertime, Lily came in to see how I was doing.

I had been surprised and happy to see her, but she had only stayed for a few minutes because she was meeting up with a boy names Severus in the library so she had to hurry. The whole time she was with me, she mostly ranted about how immature and mean James and Sirius, mostly James, were to prank Filch like that. I simply nodded my head at her as she spoke.

When she left I continued to read undisturbed for a good few hours before my eyes had gotten heavy from tiredness. I had managed to finished half of the large book and still had found nothing that had anything to do with my eye.

I closed the book wearily and lay it on the bed stand beside me.

As I drifted off to sleep, my thoughts were on the dream I had had before waking up from the coma. The dream about my parents.

I hadn't dreamt about them for so long, and it had brought back all the memories of them that I had kept in the back of my mind for so long. I hadn't even remembered that night until after the dream, which brought the fuzzy details back.  
I wondered how many memories I had pushed so far back into my memory that I had forgotten about them entirely. It just hurt so bad to think about them. I avoided it at all costs.

But now, with the memories of them surfacing in my head, and the memories of Sharem, of all that I had lost, I couldn't help but wallow in them and think of all that could have been. If only.

I decided I would stay in the Hospital Wing until Monday when the weekend ended and it was back to classes for Hogwarts students.

I dreaded the thought of being back around everyone and them all staring at me like I was some kind of circus freak. I thought I might break down and cry if I had to do that so soon. Then everyone would see the mask of calm I had placed on myself shatter. I would prolong going back as long as I could, but I couldn't hide in the hospital wing forever. On Monday, I would force myself to face all of their stares.

On the fourth day of being cooped up in the hospital wing, a strange thing happened.

I was laying on my stomach, reading the book on strange abilities by the candlelight when I heard the sound of a door open. Although it was early morning, the sun hadn't even come up yet and no one should have been up at this hour. The only reason I was still awake was that I had been up all night, reading. I had nearly finished the entire book by now and still hadn't come across anything useful.

I blew out the candle quickly, knowing Madam Pomfrey didn't like her patients staying up when they were supposed to be resting.

I heard whoever had entered walk past me. It sounded like at least two pairs of footsteps, one shuffling and the other clicking their heals against the hard floor.

From where I lay, I heard a low groan as somebody lay in one of the beds a small distance off from me. I slowly opened my curtains a crack looked through, trying to see who could possibly be entering the hospital wing so early in the morning.

I saw the back of Madam Pomfrey as she covered up whoever was in the bed with a thick wool blanket. I couldn't see who it was in the bed from my vantage point, but I could hear Madam Pomfrey saying something gently to them and then closing the curtains around their bed.

I closed the curtains quickly and stayed very still as Madam Pomfrey passed my bed again. She returned only a moment later and went back to the bed with the new patient in it.

Madam Pomfrey remained at the patient's bed for some time.

I waited quietly in my bed, too awake to go to sleep and too curious to see who was in the bed to miss out on an opportunity to discover the identity of the patient. The patient could be gone by tomorrow, and then I would never know who it had been.

I knew it was none of my business, but I had been in the Hospital Wing for four days now. Not one patient had been admitted in at such an early hour, and Madam Pomfrey didn't' usually stay so long with the patient like she was doing now.

Madam Pomfrey finally stood up and left the room once the first rays of sunlight had escaped through the windows.

No one was awake still, and I waited a short while after Madam Pomfrey had left before climbing out of bed and tiptoeing to the bed with the closed curtains around it.

I glanced around nervously, making sure no one would see me before slowly opening the curtain around the bed a crack and peeking my head in to see.

I had already come up with what I would say if the person on the bed was still awake, but there was no need. He was sleeping peacefully. Which was strange, considering his appearance. I didn't recognize him at first.

He was wrapped up in so many bandages he looked like a mummy. Some of the bandages had stains of blood that had leaked out on them. His closed eyes had dark circles around them. His face, which normally had two scars running across it, now had three long gashes running down it as well.

The scratches were in the process of healing and they would probably be completely gone by the time Madam Pomfrey was done with him, which is more than I could say for his scars. Scars were a lot harder to heal than fresh cuts and gashes.  
His toffee-colored hair was matted to his sweaty forehead he looked like he'd gotten into a fight with a bear.

The patient was Remus Lupin.

I had gasped and stepped back when I saw him. In a movement so quick I didn't even see it, Remus snapped his body up and grabbed my wrist in his hand, holding me there.

I felt the urge to scream from the unexpectedness of it all but forgot to from the pain of Remus's hold on my list. He was grabbing my wrist with unnatural strength for a boy of his age.

He seemed to realize he was hurting me and quickly let go. I stepped back more out of instinct than fear when he let go.

"Sorry, sorry," He blurted, his eyes widening. "I didn't mean to-"

"No," I interrupted, rubbing my wrist where he had grabbed me. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have opened the curtain. I'm sorry." As I was speaking I had unconsciously been edging back away from the bed. I stopped and folded my arms self consciously, feeling embarrassed at having been caught.

Remus Lupin just looked at me. He looked slightly confused. He glanced around the room and then understanding lit his face. "Oh." was all he said.

"Yeah," I said. "Sorry, I let my curiosity get the better of me. It's rarely I see a student come in here so early and I just had to see who it was." I seemed to had forgotten the perfect excuse I had planned out in case he had been awake. Which he was now. "What happened to you?" I asked before I could stop myself.

He looked uncomfortable as he answered. "Uh, I fell off a broomstick and got hurt. I guess I shouldn't have been riding in the dark."

Remus Lupin was not good at lying. I found it funny how both Aileen and Remus had used the broomstick excuse. Like walking into a door when someone gave you a black eye. I was still amazed anyone had believed Aileen about me falling off her broomstick.

"Really?" I asked, giving him a look to show him how much I believed that.

He looked at me, surprised showing on his face. I was surprised at myself as well. It was none of my business how Remus got hurt. I didn't even know him. But I did care about how he had gotten so badly hurt. He was one of the few people that had been and still were kind to me.

"I, uh," Remus seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Miss Carrington," A stern voice spoke from behind me.

I whirled around in surprise to find Madam Pomfrey standing with her hands on her hips behind me, her brows tightly knitted together in disapproval. I had seen that look before but never directed at me.

"Is there a reason you are disturbing my patient?" She asked.

"Oh, I was just leaving," I said, turning to head back to my bed.

"No, it's fine Poppy," Remus spoke up quickly. "She wasn't bothering me. We were just talking."

I turned to him in surprise. He gave me a slight smile and turned to Madam Pomfrey.

"Are you sure, Remus?" Madam Pomfrey asked, her stern voice suddenly turning softer.

"Positive," Remus said.

"Alright then," Madam Pomfrey turned hesitatingly, "Don't keep him up much longer. He needs rest and he shouldn't be speaking to any friends at the moment."

"Right," I said, still confused. Why was Remus letting me stay when I had been disturbing him?

As soon as Madam Pomfrey disappeared, Remus looked at me and let out a weary sigh.

"Listen," He said after a moment. "you can't let anyone know I was in here."

"What?" I asked, stepping closer to his bed, "Why not?"

"Because I'm supposed to be visiting my grandma, at least that's what I told my friends. They can't know I was here."

"You lied to them?" I asked in surprise.

I saw Remus physically flinch at my question.

"It's rather embarrassing," He said slowly, averting his gaze from mine. "You see, I wanted to prank Sirius and James because, you know, they like to prank everyone else and I thought it was time they got a taste of their own medicine, you know?"

"Sure," I said, "But aren't you their friend? Why are you friends with them if you don't like them pranking people?"

"It's complicated," He said, still not looking at me. "I just wanted to pull a harmless prank on them is all. So, I told them I was going to visit my grandma, but what I was really doing was trying to set up an elaborate prank to show them that I could pull pranks just like them. They said I didn't have the guts to prank anyone, you see."

"Oh," was all I said, "So you were trying to fit in with them?" I asked, only slightly understanding. Remus was still not meeting my gaze, choosing to instead stare at his lap.

"Something like that," Remus answered, "But in the process of setting up the prank, it kind of went off on me and now here I am. In the Hospital Wing. All banged up and bruised." He gestured to his bandaged body. "I guess maybe they were right. I can't pull off a prank as well as I thought. It's must not be in me. So, you see, it would be horribly embarrassing if they found out I was trying to prank them and ended up pranking myself instead."

"I guess," I said, my lips twitching just a little at the thought of him trying to prank others and having his own prank backfire on them.

"So, will you keep it a secret?" Remus asked, finally meeting my gaze again.

"Sure," I said. "Who would I tell? I mean, it's not like I'm friends with your friends, so we would never even have the opportunity to talk about this."

"Right," he said, letting out a sigh of relief, "I just wanted to make sure. Thank you, uh, Ally? Sorry, I'm not too good at remembering names."

"My name's Alexa," I said, surprised he didn't know with the amount of whispering that went on about me.

"Right!" He exclaimed suddenly. "I remember now. I sat with you and your blond friend the first day on the train."

"Yep, that was me," I said. "I remember you and your friends sat with us on the way here."

"It's been a pleasure meeting you again, Alexa," Remus said throw a yawn.

"Yeah, you too." I smiled at him, "Well, I'll stop bothering you now and let you rest," I said, not wanting to disturb him any longer. I could tell he really wanted to go back to sleep. His eyes were unfocused and it looked like he was forcing them to stay open. "I hope you get well soon. I'll talk to you later," I said, giving him an awkward little wave as I left.

"Yeah," he said, waving back, his eyelids already dropping closed. "Goodnight." He bent over and closed the curtains around his bed.

I realized how silly I had sounded as I sat back on my own bed, closing the curtains around me. I wasn't going to talk to him later. I don't know why I had said that. It was the first time I had met Remus. It just felt like we'd known each other for a long time and he was a friend when in reality we had only ever exchanged a few words in the five months I had been here.

Remus Lupin only had a small group of friends. He was quiet, and shy too, but I don't think that was why he chose to hang around a small group. If that was why then how come he was friends with the two loudest and obnoxious boys in the whole school? It didn't make sense.

I had seen Remus talk with plenty of other children, but only in passing conversation or because he was paired up with somebody in class. He mostly stuck with his three friends or was alone in the library.

Aileen and I had seen him in the library quite often, usually reading a book or scanning the shelves for one. He always kept to himself. He was one of the only Gryffindors that Aileen didn't openly despise.

I wondered why he didn't have many friends. He was nice, and people liked him, but he wouldn't let anyone befriend him. Except for James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew.

I had met Remus first, and then they had taken him into their select group. I felt slightly jealous thinking about it, even though I knew how silly it was. I felt like Remus could have been my friend, a good one, if only Potter and Black hadn't chosen him, out of the hundreds of other children there were here, to befriend.

When Monday came the next day, I let Madam Pomfrey know  
I was going to attend classes and forced myself down for breakfast.

As I entered the great hall I saw everyone openly staring at me. I walked slowly to the Gryffindor table, my head down. Didn't they have anything better to do? I felt a rush of embarrassment and anger wash over me as they began to whisper and talk in low voices. Maybe they had forgotten how I looked after a month of not seeing me.

I ignored them the best I could as I walked to Gryffindor's long table. I saw Frank and made my way over to him.

"Hey look!" a boy yelled, "The red-eyed freak is back! What? The circus wouldn't have you? Too freakish even for them to handle?"

I looked up in surprise at the jeer. People usually talked about how strange I looked, but never directly to me like that. And most weren't so mean, at least not on purpose. The ones that were were usually Slytherins anyway.

I felt my face heat up as all eyes turned first to the speaker and then back to me, waiting to see what I would say or do. I think they expected me to do something unnatural, confirming to them just how much of a complete freak I really was. I kept my walking though, ignoring them.

"Shut up, Potter!" Lily snapped. "The only freak around here is you and that big head of yours. You would be a lot better-looking if your that was closed. Permanently."

I noticed that Remus Lupin wasn't with the group of boys as he usually was, and I assumed he must still be in the Hospital Wing.

"Why Evans?" James asked, cocking an arrogant eyebrow at her. "You think I'm good looking?"

"What?" Lily asked, "Did you not just hear what I said? Are you always this stupid or are you making a special effort today?"

"Aw," James cooed, "Look, Sirius, she thinks I'm making some special effort just being myself. I really am something, aren't I?"

"Oh, you're definitely something," Lily agreed emphatically. "Stupid."

"Evans!" James cried out dramatically, clutching his hear. He wiped fake tears from his eyes and stuck his lower lip out, "You've hurt my feelings. You should apologize. Don't you think she owes me an apology, Sirius?"

"That I do, James. That I do." Sirius replied, nodding his head.

"Oh, alright," Lily said, "You're right, Potter. I should apologize. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings when I called you dumb. I thought you already knew."

The two proceeded to get into an argument and I ignored them both, as I and most other students had learned to do when James and Lily got into an argument. Even James Potter's Friends didn't participate in the argument or try to stop it anymore like in the beginning.

I would have to remember to thank Lily though, as she had stared conversation away from me, intentionally or not.

I plopped down next to Frank, grabbing a biscuit from the basket and buttering it.

After a few minutes, everyone went back to eating and talking with each other, every here and there glancing at me and then turning back to their friend to whisper.

On the one hand, it felt worse than it had been when I first arrived. Everyone was staring and whispering even more now that I had disappeared for two weeks and then suddenly shown up. But, on the other hand, it was a little better. I had gotten used to it by now, so it didn't bother me as much as it the first few months here. It still hurt though.

As I began to wish I was someone else, that I looked different, that I didn't have this weird eye and this wooden leg, I remembered what Aileen had said to me. About not getting hurt and insulted when people pointed out my flaws. She had said if I embraced who I was, the good and the bad, that their words and taunts wouldn't affect me. But it was so hard.

Did it really matter what they thought of me? It shouldn't bother me so much when they stared and whispered about how strange I am. What half of them think is true; I do look strange. And what the other half think, the ones like Potter and his group, the ones who think I truly am a freak from another world, what they think shouldn't matter to me. They can think what they want and it shouldn't bother me.

But it did. No matter how much I told myself it shouldn't, it still did. Maybe, if I worked a little harder on ignoring them and not caring what they thought, maybe I would eventually really not care. Like Aileen didn't care.

The rest of the day was spent mostly in classes, trying to avoid all the other children's gazes as they whispered curiously about me and where I had disappeared to, too afraid to ask me themselves. Maybe they thought they would get a disease if they got to close. When I was paired with Aileen in class, I felt instantly better. Most of the children were too afraid of her to stand there and stare at me with her staring right back at them.

After classes were over, Aileen and I spent our time in the library. I didn't see Remus there at all that day, and when I went to the Hospital Wing to check on him, he was gone. I suppose the effects of the failed prank must have finally worn off of him.

I tried to thank Lily for what she had done earlier that day, but she was always with a group of friends so I didn't get a chance.  
When I finally went up to my dormitory to talk to her, Lily was already asleep, along with all the other girls in our dormitory. I decided I would talk to her first thing tomorrow.

I went to bed right away, too tired to read the book on strange powers I had been reading every night before bedtime. I only had a few pages left, so I didn't think there would be anything useful in the book after all. I wouldn't give up searching though.

 **That picture is supposed to be Remus, kind of how I think he looks, except he's younger in this story than he is in that photo. Quite a bit younger. I couldn't find any other good Remuses and I couldn't look for long at all.**

 **I hoped you guys like this chapter! :-) I didn't edit it as much as I usually did, so sorry for the lengthiness!**

 **P.S. For all of you reading this on THIS site, , you might want to head over to Quotev, where I also have this posted. I update on there first, there are pictures of characters and places on there, it's in proper order, there are fewer mistakes, and it's overall better. Here is the link for it on Quotev: story/9910897/Damaged-A-Marauders-Era-story-First-Year/1**


	18. First Year, Part 18 (The Restricted Sect

"That's it," I said, slamming the book I had been reading shut with a loud noise in the silence.

We were in the secret room Aileen had found, the one by the portrait of the knight, and we had been in this little room all day.

It was a Sunday, so we had no classes. Aileen and I had brought a small stack of books from the library and some drinks with us to go study, and for hours we had been in the room, each of us quietly reading the books, occasionally making a comment or two on something or another we read about. The sudden noise startled Aileen, making her jump slightly in her chair.

"What's it?" She asked, getting comfortable again in the red cushioned chair by the fireplace.

"Do you have any idea how many books we have read?" I asked.

"A lot," Aileen said, "And we're probably going to need to read a lot more before we do find something useful. Why?"

"We have read at least a hundred books between the two of us," I started,

"I don't think we've read that many," sHE said, laughing. "Maybe fifty at the most."

"And we've looked at about a thousand in the library," I continued, ignoring her. "I think it's time we do something different,"

"What do you mean?" She asked, taking a sip from the steaming mug of hot cocoa that sat beside her. "What else can we do? We've been doing everything we are able to do at the moment. We've been going to the library every day, checking out any book that might be useful, and then coming here and scanning through it. There are millions of books in the library, and we haven't even looked at a fourth of them yet. The only thing to do is continue to look every day, and sooner or later we will stumble across something useful. It's a shame Madam Pince isn't more helpful, I bet she knows where lots of books are that would help us."

"Continuing to look for a book in the rows upon rows of books in the library is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. We need to narrow it down a bit." I said.

"What do you suggest?" She asked, yawning and standing to stretch.

"We need to look in the restricted section," I stated.

"What?" She asked in surprise, stopping mid-stretch, "But you need a permission slip from one of the professors to go back there. There's no way they're going to let a couple of first years browse the restricted section."

"That's why we're going to need to sneak in," I said, sounding more confident than I felt.

Aileen was silent for a moment, mulling it over.

"I don't think we can pull that off," she said. "For one thing, if we get caught, we will be in huge trouble. And for another thing, even if we managed to find a book that looked like a useful book, we wouldn't be able to take it with us."

"Why not?" I asked, frowning.

"Have you ever tried taking a book from the library without Madam Pince's permission? " She asked.

"No," I replied, "Why?"

"Consider yourself lucky then," Aileen said. "The library books have spells on them to stop students from stealing them."

"Oh," I said, "Well, surely there's a way we can take one or two without her knowing. Did you ever try?"

"Not on purpose," Aileen said, "I accidentally had put one in my bag and forget about it. As I was trying to leave, the book flew out and kept whacking me on the head, screaming for Madam Pince."

I laughed, thinking of it.

Aileen glared over at me. "It wasn't funny," She said, clearly thinking back on the event. "Books from the Restricted Section need a signed note in order for Madam Pince to let you take them out."

"Do you know think we could somehow copy them? That way Madam Pince wouldn't know they were gone." I said.

"Now that you mention it," Aileen said, chewing on her lower lip in thought. "I may have a spell for that. It's advanced, and I haven't been able to really try it out yet, but it just may work."

"Great," I said. "Problem solved."

"But how are we suppose to sneak in without getting caught?" Aileen asked.

"Well," I said. "I've been thinking about it. We'll need to sneak into the library after everyone's asleep, of course. We've snuck around the castle past hours plenty of times before, so that shouldn't be a problem."

"Isn't the library locked past hours?" Aileen asked.

"I don't know," I said. "I don't think so. What would be the use? Students could easily use an Unlocking Charm."

"Well, sneaking in isn't going to be the problem," Aileen said. "Not getting caught is going to be the problem. We can have our attention on finding a book in the rows upon rows of books, and not get caught by Filch. Or worse, Madam Pince." She shuttered at the thought.

"That's what I've been thinking about," I said. "Frank Longbottom can help us."

"You've been thinking about this long?" Aileen asked, screwing her face up in disgust at the mention of Frank.

"I know you don't like Frank," I started.

"That's an understatement," Aileen said. "He's one of the Gryffindors I dislike the most."

"But," I continued, "You don't need to like him in order for him to help us."

"How is it," Aileen said, "that he's supposed to be able to help?"

"You, him, and I all have necklaces that just so happen to be able to communicate." I said, "I have been thinking about this for a while, and I have it all planned. He can stand watch right outside the library. If someone comes, he can warn us through the necklace, we can hide, and he can hide behind that secret stairway outside of the library. This way, you and I can look through the books without being disturbed."

"Right," Aileen said, "Where does that stairway lead again?"

"I think it leads down to the Great Hall," I said.

"And what does Longbottom have to say about all this?" Aileen asked.

"Well, I haven't exactly asked him yet," I confessed. "But I'm sure he'll agree to help." I rushed to assure her.

"What are you going to tell him we're doing?" She asked. "It's not like you can tell him we're looking for a book that can tell us more about your eye's magical abilities, can you?"

"I'll figure something out," I said. "It's dinnertime in about half an hour. I'll ask him then."

"Alright," Aileen agreed, "If he agrees, let me know and we can meet up tonight at the library."

"Thanks, Aileen," I said. "I know it's risky, but I'm willing to do just about anything to find a book that has information about my eye in it. Do you think there will be one in the restricted section?" I asked, taking the cup of charmed hot cocoa from the stand beside me.

"Who knows," Aileen said "picking her book back up and sitting down to read again. "In the meantime though, we need to continue to read." She opened the book back up where she had left off and began to scan the pages again.

I too picked up the book I had been reading and began to read again.

I tried to talk to Frank at dinnertime, but he was engaged in a conversation with one of his friends. I didn't want to interrupt. Instead, I sat beside him and ate quietly, waiting for the boy he was talking with to leave. It wasn't long before the blond boy and Frank stood to leave.

"Wait," I said, tugging on Frank's sleave. "Can I talk to you about something real quick?" I asked

"Sure," Frank said, sitting back down. He looked up at his blond friend, Mathew Hemingway.

Mathew and I weren't friends, but we were friendly.

"See you later, mate," Frank said cheerily.

"See you," Mathew said as he walked off, giving Frank and me a little wave.

"What is it you wanted to talk about?" Frank asked.

"What would you say if I asked you to do something that was against Hogwart's Rules to help me?"

"I would ask you what it is you wanted me to do," He said, "And I would be quite surprised that you were breaking school rules."

"Well," I said, "you need to promise not to tell anyone."

"Of course I wouldn't," he said. "Beleive it or not, you're not the first person who's asked me to break school rules before. And it won't be the first time doing so."

"So you'll help me?" I asked.

"Well," He said, laughing a little, "You'll need to tell me what it is you want me to do first."

"Right," I said, "I want you to help me sneak into the restricted section of the library tonight," I said the last part in a whisper, in case anyone was neer enough to overhear.

He looked at me in surprise for a moment before answering.

"Why don't you just get permission?" He asked. "Do you have any idea the things Madam Pince would do to you if she catches you?"

"That's why I need your help," I said. "So I won't get caught."

"What book do you need from the restricted section?" Frank asked.

"I don't know exactly what book it is," I said, "But I'm looking for a book on other people. People like me."

"What do you mean, 'people like you'?" He asked.

"You know," I said, gesturing to my leg and my eye. "People who were born with abnormalities."

"Oh," Frank said. "But why? Why don't you just look around the library?"

"I have," I said. "For weeks now. Aileen's been helping me, but we still haven't found any books whatsoever. I need to get in the restricted section, Frank, and you're the only one who can help."

After a long moment of silence, Frank sighed.

"What do you want me to do?"

I smiled at him brightly and began to tell him what I needed him to do.

He agreed to the plan and said he would meet us tonight.

I didn't doubt we'd be able to do it, but I still felt the thrill of excitement and my heart beating fast as I snuck out of the girl's dormitory that night to meet with Aileen and Frank.

As I rounded a corner, I stopped abruptly and hid back behind it. Two boys were at the end of the hallway. I hadn't gotten a good look at their faces, but I could tell they were older students. Perhaps prefects patrolling the hallways. I would need to take a different route to the library.

When I finally arrived at the library, Aileen and Frank had already been there for a while.

After telling them what had taken me so long, Aileen and I pushed the doors to the library open and slipped inside. Frank stood by the entrance to keep an eye out. He stood in the shadows, hidden from anyone who might happen to walk by. Even though I knew he was there, it was too dim to see him.

Aileen and I didn't dare light our wands until we had gotten to the restricted section.

The library was normally a very quiet place, but at night, with no one in sight, it was dead silent.

Aileen and I made our way over to the restricted section, stepping over the rope that blocked the way.

The shelves of books here were much like the shelves upon shelves of books everywhere else in the library, only the books themselves looked older and some of them were rather odd-looking

"Alright," I said. "We need to make quick work of this. You take that shelf and I'll do this one."

"Okay," Aileen said, "And be careful when you touch the books, some of them are quite dangerous, I hear."

We lit our wands and began to scan the rows upon rows of books.

"Human Flesh and How to Use It," Aileen read from one of the titles on the shelf she was searching. "Gross."

I scanned the titles of the books on the shelf, shuttering as I came across titles that were clearly meant for users of Dark Magic.

Some of the books didn't have titles at all. These ones I had to open and scan the pages to figure out what the book was about.

We had been in the restricted section for only a few moments before Aileen announced she had found a book that could be useful. She showed me the small brown book titled 'Dark Abilities.' before casting a spell on the book that made it multiply. She placed the copy of the book in her book bag she had strapped to her shoulder.

"How did you figure out the spell for copying things like that anyway?" I asked as I continued to scan the books by wand light. "

"I have a friend in Slytherin from Fourth Year," Aileen said, "She was more than willing to let me borrow her Spells Book."

"When was this?" I asked.

"Months ago," Aileen said. "When I first arrived. I copied some of the spells I wanted to try to master, and the Gemino Curse was one of them. I haven't been able to perform most of the spells yet, as they are advanced, but I'm working on it. I only was just able to perform this one today, after spending an hour trying."

"Hey," I said, coming across a black covered book. "This one might be useful. It's called, 'The History of Magical Powers'." I handed the large book to Aileen, who copied it and placed it in her bag.

" _You guys might want to hide_ ," Came Frank's voice in my head suddenly. From the way Aileen stopped what she was doing, I could tell she heard him too, " _Filch is coming down the hallway, and he doesn't look at all happy_."

Aileen and I dashed to the nearest chairs, cramming ourselves under them and distinguishing our wand's light. A few moments later Frank's voice came again.

" _Okay, he's gone now_."

I let out a sigh of relief. " _Thanks, Frank_ ," I thought back. " _He might have seen our wand light if it weren't for you_."

Aileen and I continued our search, occasionally announcing we had found one, for another ten minutes or so, when suddenly, a loud piercing scream echoed through the library. For a moment, I thought it had been Aileen who screamed. But then I saw the book in her hands was making the noise. She slammed it shut and placed it back on the shelf.

" _What was that_?" Frank's astounded voice asked in my head. " _Quick! I see Madam Pince rushing down the hallway_." He sounded as terrified as I felt.

Aileen and I had only just crammed ourselves under the chairs again when we heard the library doors bang open.

Aileen and I lay still as statues under the chairs. If Madam Pince came close enough, she would be able to see us.

I could hear Madam Prince's heels clicking against the floor as she rushed by us. I heard her muttering something as she came to the restricted section, and then I heard her repeat herself, louder this time.

"Who's there?" She asked. "Who dares to enter my library after hours?"

Aileen and I looked at each other, knowing we were about to be caught.

" _Quick_ ," Aileen thought to me, " _We need to make a run for it. No way I'm staying here with her. We need to get to the passageway outside of the library_."

"Show yourselves this instant," Madam Pince said. "Before I call all the professors down to search you out."

From where I lay on the floor, I could see her disappear behind one of the bookshelves.

" _It's now or never_ ," I thought to Aileen as I began to crawl as quietly and as quickly from under the chair. Aileen followed suit and we both began to fun on our tiptoes to the exit, being as quiet as possible.

"You!" I heard be Pince call from behind us. "Stop!"

We no longer tried to be quiet as we ran full out to the doors, banging them closed behind us.

Aileen knocked three times on the wall outside the library to open up the passageway. We had just crammed in when Madam Pince opened the doors to the library and burst out, her face red. The door closed behind us and we were emerged into darkness. I didn't think she had seen us, as it was too dark, but I couldn't be sure. We could hear her still calling out to us from where we stood, but the thick wall blocked out most of the noise.

"Wow," I heard Frank whisper behind me. I jumped and nearly fell down the stairs in my fright. I turned around, lighting my wand. Frank shielded his eyes as I pointed it at him.

"Don't do that," I whispered, "You scared me half to death."

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Frank asked.

"I think so," I said, my heart still in my throat. "That was a close call."

"You're telling me," Frank said. "I was only just able to get in here in time. She almost spotted me. She would've if she hadn't been in such a hurry to get into the library and catch you guys."

"Do you have the bag of books?" I asked Aileen.

"Yes," Aileen said, showing me the stuffed bag.

"Good," I said, "Then let's get out of here before Madam Pince wakes up the whole castle to find us.

We walked down the stairway and through the passageway that led to a hidden the entrance in the Great Hall, where Aileen and I parted ways, each of us heading back to our dormitories.

Frank and I made our way back to Gryffindor Tower together, sticking close to the shadows to avoid Filch who was lurking in the hallway.

I felt my face light up with a smile as we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. We had done it. We had gotten a small pile of books that would hopefully be useful.

"Thank you," I said as Frank muttered the password to the Fat Lady, who eyed us suspiciously but let us pass. "We surely would have gotten caught if it weren't for your help."

"I hope you got what you were looking for," Frank said. "Because I don't want to ever do that again. Madam Pince scares me."

I laughed but agreed with him wholeheartedly. Madam Pince was one of the most frightening adults here at Hogwarts, second only to Professor McGonagall.

Before Frank and I went our separate ways, him to the boy's dormitory and I to the girl's dormitory, I gave him a quick hug and thanked him once again before heading off to bed.

I felt glad to have a friend like Frank. For the first month or so here, I had thought he was just being friends out of pity or something for me. And maybe that was how it had been in the beginning, but I hadn't minded very much if it was the truth. But, after a while, all thoughts of him only being friends with me out of pity vanished. There was no doubt in my mind that we were friends. True, close friends. And we would always be, just like Aileen and I.

As I fell asleep that night, I came to a conclusion. If I had to choose, between being popular and having a whole bunch of friends like some people, like I had wanted for so long, or just having the two best friends I had now, I would choose the friends I had now. I would choose Frank and Aileen over a large group of friends anyway.

 **I hope you guys liked this chapter!**

 **You know what? I just thought of something. Madam Pince wasn't really the librarian back in 1971 (The time period in this story) because she wasn't even born until around that time! Darnit. Too late now. I wonder why so many Marauder Era stories have her as the librarian. I've never read one where it's somebody else.**

 **Anyhow! That doesn't really matter.**

 **I'm sorry this chapter was late. I was is sick (with horrid skin-reaction allergies) last week, so I wasn't able to post it last Sunday.**

 **Thank you so much to all of you who are STILL reading this! It means the so much to me!**


	19. First Year, Part 19 (The Library Book)

Valentine's day had come and gone two weeks ago. But with all of my spare time spent reading, I had barely even noticed its presence.

James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew had pulled a prank as their way of celebrating February 14th.

I hadn't been there to experience the prank myself, thank goodness, as I had woken up earlier than usual and already eaten a hurried breakfast before heading off to go study in the library. Aileen had been there, though. As had Frank, Lily, and most of Hogwarts students, only a few were spared the experience. The effects of the prank had lasted a full three days afterward.

The boys had put something in the heart-shaped candies that had been served on Valentines Day at breakfast. Everyone who ate them had been affected in a very unpleasant way.

Any boy that had eaten the candy had grown a long, white beard that reached their chest, along with a wrinkled old man's complexion, and large bags that hung under their eyes. Most of them were not even recognizable.

The girls who had eaten the heart-shaped candy had gotten the worst of it though.

Their hair had turned grey and snarly, their noses had lengthened and turned pointy, warts had grown on their noses, chins, and necks. Their teeth had turned brown and decayed-looking, their skin had shriveled up, making them look years older than they actually were, and their fingernails had grown at least five inches long. They looked like what a muggle might think a witch looked like.

Suffice it to say, most of the students at Hogwarts hadn't gone on any Valentine's Day dates or anything that day, any romance at Hogwarts being sufficiently ruined.

Most of the girl's had stayed locked away in their dormitories the following three days, refusing to leave, too embarrassed to be seen. They had to come for classes though. But the second classes were over, they were to be found back in their dormitories.

The boys did not seem to care as much as most of the girls did, and went about their daily routines as usual. It was strange in Hogwart's castle with half it's population nowhere to be seen. It was almost like an all-boys school.

James Potter and Sirius Black had readily taken the blame for the prank, not even bothering to try to deny it was their doing. Not wanting to be left out, Peter Pettigrew had declared loudly that he had helped with the prank as well. They seemed very proud of themselves, proclaiming it was a "Bloody brilliant prank to go down in the history of Hogwarts." The students had felt otherwise, though, and had sent the three boys harsh glares the whole week after the prank. Even Gideon and Fabian-both master pranksters had been rather put off about the whole thing. Their Valentine's Day dates had been canceled, and they weren't happy about that one bit.

All three boys had gotten a month's worth of detention, but they didn't seem too concerned about that.

Lily and my other dormmates had stayed in our dormitory a lot more than usual the days following Valentine's Day, wanting to be seen as little as possible in the state they were in. Every time I had gone up there, I had heard Lily going on about the boys and their ridiculous, inconsiderate, and cruel pranks, that weren't even the least bit funny. It had been hard to take her seriously though, what with her looking like a shriveled old hag and sounding like one too.

I wasn't about to admit it, but I found the girl's appearances kind of funny. I knew if I looked like that though that I the last thing I would find it was funny. But, I could understand why the boys thought it was funny, even if they had ruined Valentine's Day for everyone and the prank had been a bit cruel and inconsiderate.

Aileen hadn't really cared about how she looked, going around as she usually did, not bothering to hide in her room as many of the other girls did.

The following two weeks after sneaking into the restricted section of the library, Aileen and I spent every day in the hidden room, reading through the four large volumes we had found.

One of the books, 'Dark Abilities', had been completely useless, so I hadn't even bothered reading much of it. It had only talked about abilities that magical creatures had, not humans. Aileen had liked that book though.

Another book, 'Magical Eyes & Minds: Mythology and Folklore' had been about tales from all over the world about people with eyes or minds that had some kind of magical ability. It had been a bit more useful, though not much. Most of the tales probably weren't even true. It had been very interesting to read about though.

In 'Magical Eyes & Minds: Mythology and Folklore' There was a story about a witch who could read people's auras and control them. Her abilities sounded kind of like mine, but she could also do many other things that I couldn't do like shooting fire beams from her eyes. The witch was said to have lived back in medieval times and there wasn't much information on her at all.

Although Aileen had said it was all probably just rubbish - children's tales, we had looked for a book on the witch. But after spending an hour in the library looking and coming up with nothing, even going as far as to try to get Madam Pince's help, we had given up the search.

While the third book we had gotten didn't mention magical abilities or anything of such a nature, it did have a lot about illnesses and disabilities in the magical world, and why so many witches and wizards could not be cured of certain injuries and illnesses.

While it was possible to cure just about any Muggle injury or illness by magic, the same could not be said of injuries and illnesses caused by a magical nature. Curses put on a someone deliberately and backfiring magic could be life-threatening, and many times permanent. Just how my eye and missing leg were permanent.

Furthermore, the book went on to say how genetic traits, such as freckles, nearsightedness, or the color of one's eyes could not be changed by magic permanently. While you may be able to alter it for a while using magic, a person's genetic structure would remain the same.

While Aileen found the book on illnesses and injuries boring, I found it fascinating and very knowledgeable. I didn't understand why it was in the restricted section. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that there was a long list of Dark spells and curses in the book, their effects, and the counterspells and methods of treating them, if at all possible. Maybe the professors thought younger students shouldn't see a list of Dark curses. But, it also had the counterspells, and even younger students should know things like that. I decided I would keep this book to study in my free time. It was one of the most useful books on healing I had ever read.

The last book Aileen and I had taken from the library was the book that had valuable information about what my eye might actually be able to do.

The book was called 'The Windows to the Soul'. The whole entire book, which was rather large, was written just on the topic of eyes. Unfortunately, though, only one chapter of the book was on centered on Aura Reading. The rest was just about what eyes actually were, why they signified in the magical world, and a lot of other stuff I didn't care much about.

"It says here," Aileen said, using her finger to underline the text she was reading, "Aura Reading is very rare in the magical world, and only a few known people in history have ever had it."

We were sitting by the little fire in the secret room, both of us reading over the chapter.

"Look at this," Aileen said, pointing to a paragraph.

I scanned the list Aileen pointed to and read it aloud. "A person with the ability to see and read a person's aura can often times do many more things as well," I read, "They can determine a person's health by the color of their aura, they can detect what another is feeling at any given time, they can read a person's character, they can see the morality of a person by studying their aura, they can detect evil in a person as well as good, they can often detect whether a person is magical or muggle, as well as the measure of power within said person."

"And here," Aileen said, pointing to a sentence. "They can, in rare cases, even manipulate a person's aura, making that person do as they wish." She read. "You did that, Alexa," Aileen declared excitedly. "You manipulated Cargem back in the forest. If you can do that, I bet you can do all of this other stuff as well."

"Does it go on to say how to do this stuff?" I asked, scanning the page.

"Not exactly," Aileen said. "Look here," she turned the page and pointed to a square of small text, "It basically says you need to want It with all your might. You need to let your eye take over, releasing the rest of your body and only concentrating on what you're doing. You need to physically and mentally concentrate completely on what it is you want to do or see. Not only that, it says you need to "look beyond the eye's limitations," whatever that means."

"I can't believe after all this time, we've actually found a book that talks about this stuff. And it doesn't seem to be talking about pure nonsense," I said, "Back in the forest when I did that thing to Cargem, my whole entire being was into it if that makes sense. I wanted nothing more at that moment than to stop him."

"Have you ever tried just looking at someone and trying what they're feeling, their mood that is, by their aura?" Aileen asked.

"No," I said, "I never knew my eye could do anything else besides see this cloud surrounding new people I met."

"Why don't you try it now." Aileen set the book down. "Try to see what I'm the emotion I'm feeling right now."

"Alright," I said hesitantly. Taking a deep breath, I squinted hard at Aileen, trying to see a cloud of color around her. Although I was looking hard for it, all I saw were the small dust particles floating around and how Aileen's hair curled slightly at the tips, even though it was stick-straight everywhere else.

"It's not working," I said after a minute, growing impatient and letting out a frustrated sigh. "Do you straighten your hair, Aileen?"

Aileen looked at me confusedly. "What? No, I don't. Did you see any color around me whatsoever?"

"No, not any color that just appeared, that is. Of course, I saw all the color of the stuff behind you and on you with my eye that does see color."

"Why don't you try closing your other eye?" Aileen suggested, "The non-magical one. Perhaps it's preventing you from seeing what only your magical eye can see."

I did as she said, and tried again. With my other eye closed, I could only see Aileen in black and white. Her normally blond hair was completely white through this eye, her dark robes a little darker, the green on them a greyish color. I looked hard, trying to see an emotion around her, willing a cloud to appear, but nothing happened.

"Nope," I said, uncovering my eye in frustration, "It's not working. All I can see is you, nothing else."

Aileen took the book again and scanned it with her eyes. "Okay," she said after a moment, looking up at me and putting the book back down again. "Try relaxing a bit. The book says you need to be completely concentrated on what you're trying to do."

"But I was completely concentrated," I argued. "It's just not working."

"You were thinking too much," Aileen said, "I can tell. You were examining everything too closely. You need to focus. Try again, this time don't think of anything else but seeing the color of my aura. Don't let anything else distract you. Only look the color that will tell you what I'm feeling, nothing else."

"Okay," I said, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. Placing my hand over my right eye, I opened my left eye and looked at Aileen again. I stared at her for a few minutes, trying my best not to let my attention stray to all the details around Aileen.

After staring at her for another minute, I gave up. "It's not working, Aileen."

"You've got to try harder than that," Aileen said, annoyed. "You're giving up after only a minute or two. Look for longer."

I did as Aileen suggested. For the next ten minutes or so, even though to me it seemed like an hour, I covered my right eye and only looked at Aileen with my left eye, looking all around her for any signs of color. The whole time, Aileen remained silent, not making any noise that might break my concentration.

"I still don't see anything," I said after what seemed to me like forever, "And I've been looking for an hour."

"What did you see when you were looking at me?" Aileen asked after a moment.

"I saw you, of course."

"Don't see me," Aileen said, "The book says to look beyond your eye's limitations. I believe it means to look beyond what you see initially."

"But how?" I asked in frustration. "How do you look beyond what you can see?"

"I don't know," Aileen confessed, "But try. Try to look at me, but not see me."

"Okay, I'll try," I said. Again, I covered my right eye and looked at Aileen. I tried to look at her, but not see her. It was harder than it sounded. I let my vision become unfocused and blurry so that all I was seeing was Aileen's outline. My eyes began to water from not blinking like this, but I kept them open, making Aileen's appearance become less and less clear.

Then it happened. Though the haze I had caused by making my eye go all blurry like that, I spotted it. My vision was so out of focus that I saw nothing else, no other details. All I saw was the color turquoise surrounding Aileen's blurry shape. It wasn't like a cloud, more like a very light mist. It seemed like my eye was on the way to rolling up into my head I had caused it to go so out of focus.

After a second of gazing at the mist around Aileen, I had to blink my eye that was now watering and hurting. I had given myself a headache from staring so long at Aileen like that.

"I think I saw it!" I exclaimed, blinking to clear my blurry vision. There was a dull throbbing ache behind my eyes like a coming headache, but I didn't care. "But when I blinked it vanished."

"Your eye did that thing again," Aileen said, "Though, not as much as the last time."

"What thing?" I asked, confused.

"It glowed faintly," She clarified, "But only for a second. If I hadn't been looking closely at you, I wouldn't have even noticed it."

"Oh yeah," I said, "You told me it glowed red back in the forest. I remember now. Maybe it glows whenever I use it. But then, wouldn't it glow every time I saw someone's aura?"

"Maybe it does," Aileen said. "Maybe it happens so fast that anyone who saw it would think it was just light reflecting in your eye or something. What did you see?"

"I saw a greenish-blue color around you," I said, "Only, it wasn't like usual. It was more like a mist than a cloud."

"Well," Aileen said, "That's probably because what you saw when you first met me was my aura. My overall being. Just now though, you were looking for what I was feeling at this moment in time. A person's aura and a person's mood probably won't look the same. What does the color mean? Do you know what I was feeling?"

"I don't know if the color for your mood means the same as for your aura," I said, unsure, "If it does, I would guess you were feeling calm at the moment?" It came out more like a question than a statement.

"That's correct," Aileen said, "I am feeling rather calm. Calmer than I usually do. Reading for long hours has that effect on me."

"So, it actually worked?" I said, "I actually read your mood?"

"I believe so," Aileen said. "Do you think you could do it again?"

"I don't know," I said, "I think so. I think I need to make my vision go kind of hazy in order to not you and see the color. But, it makes my eyes water and hurt. I'll try again though to see if I can."

"Let's see if you can do it with someone else then," Aileen said excitedly, jumping up and shoving the book in her bag. "We'll go down to the Great Hall and you can have a go at it with someone else."

"Okay," I said, sitting up, feeling dizzy for a second. My head still hurt, but it was only a dull ache now.

We hurried out of the passageway, being careful that no one spotted us leaving the hidden entrance, and down to the Great hall, where dinner was just finishing up. There were only a few other students left sitting at the long tables.

Aileen and I stood in the doorway, looking around at the Great Hall.

"There," Aileen said, "Now just look at one of the kids and try to read what they are feeling."

It felt awkward to just stand there and stare at someone, but I did it. I decided to look at Frank's friend, Mathew, who was sitting alone, poking at the remains of his food, not really paying attention to the goings on around him.

It took me a few minutes to tune out any noise or distractions, simply focusing on Mathew. If he were to glance up, I knew my focus would be lost, but luckily he didn't. After staring at him for a solid minute without blanking, my vision began to blur as it had with Aileen, and I wanted badly to blink to clear my vision, but I forced myself to keep my eyelid open. Just as my I felt I couldn't stare unblinkingly much longer, my eye beginning to hurt, I saw it, the mist around Mathew. It was a greyish-purple color.

This time though, when my vision went back into focus, I felt dizzier than I had the first time. I had a nauseous-feeling as well, and a strange feeling went over my eye, like a cold shiver, leaving the back of my eye aching with pain. I stumbled back into Aileen, trying to get my bearings and leaning over as if I was about to puke.

"What's the matter?" Aileen asked. "Are you okay?"

"Just, Just dizzy," I mumbled, shaking myself slightly to dispel the dizziness. After a second, it went away, leaving behind the nauseous feeling and the sharp ache behind my eye. I felt strangely tired.

"You look sick," Aileen said, "Do you want me to take you to Madam Pomfrey?"

"No, I'm fine now," I said. "I saw it around him, the mist."

"Who?" Aileen asked, leading me out of the Great Hall, where a few of the students had turned their attention my way and were giving us curious looks.

"Mathew," I said quietly, "He's a Gryffindor boy Frank knows. I think he's feeling sad about something."

"What color was the mist around him?" Aileen asked.

"It was a greyish-purple color," I said. "It could mean he's feeling sad, anxious, or some other feeling like that. I think I should go talk to him and find out what's wrong. He's usually quite cheerful." I turned to go back into the Great Hall but felt Aileen holding me back.

"Do you even know him?" She asked. "You can't just go walk up to him and ask him why he's feeling sad. Don't be ridiculous."

"Well," I said, "I don't really know him, but he's always been nice to me and we've talked a few times. If something's upsetting him, I want to try to help if I can."

"I don't think he'll feel comfortable sharing why he's feeling down with basically a stranger, as you are to him," Aileen said. "Just leave him be. Besides, you need to go lay down or something. You look deathly pale. Are you sure you're all right?"

"I think so," I said, hesitantly turning back and walking down the hallway alongside Aileen.

She was right, of course. I couldn't just go and talk to Mathew like that. Just because we had spoken to each other before didn't mean we were friends or anything. I had no right to know what was wrong with him. Though, that didn't mean I didn't want to know. He was Frank's friend, after all. And Frank was my friend.

"My head hurts something awful though," I continued as we made our way down the long hallway, "I don't think I should try reading anyone else's mood for a while. I think headaches are a side effect."

"I can't believe you can actually do this!" Aileen said, sounding very excited and eager. "You'll need to keep practicing. Maybe the headaches will go away after a while."

"Maybe," I said hopefully. "I hope they do. This hurts. Worse than a normal headache."

Aileen and I separated a short while later after I insisted I was well enough to go on by myself and that I was sure I didn't need to see Madam Pomfrey. I made my way to the Fat Lady's portrait by myself.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked.

"Wattlebird," I replied, rubbing the spot between my eyes.

The portrait of the fat lady swung aside, revealing the entrance to the round hole in the wall that led right into the Gryffindor common room.

Stepping inside, I spotted two boys playing a round of exploding snap and a few girls sitting by the fireplace, studying. As I entered, a few of them turned my way and then went back to what they had been doing, if not a bit more quietly.

I climbed the long long staircase that led to the girl's dormitory and flopped down on my bed, my head aching more with every passing moment.

For the remainder of what was left of the day, I lay in bed the sharp, aching headache. Luckily, it was near enough to my usual bedtime that I didn't have to lay there long in pain before I finally fell asleep.

 _"You can't do this, Charles," Aunt Cora said, sounding exasperated and on the verge of yelling again. "You know what will happen if you do. You will be putting everything we have worked for at risk."_

 _"Not if I do it properly," Daddy replied calmly, "I can bring the subject up to him, and subtly suggest he goes the other way, easy as that."_

 _"It's not easy as that!" Aunt Cora's voice was shrill again with anger. "Charles! You fool! Did Father teach you nothing? I would think you would know better from what happened to our mother."_

 _"Do not talk to me about Mother," Daddy's voice had a hint of steel in it now. "She did what she did for her own selfish reasons. What happened to her was no one's doing but her own. She got what she deserved."_

 _"Charles David Carrington!" Aunt Cora gasped. "How dare you speak of the dead that way. Of our mother, no less. Disgraceful."_

 _"Alexa!" A voice from behind me whispered._

 _I whirled around to find Mommy standing over me with her hands on her hips._

 _"You know better than to listen in on other people's conversations." She said quietly, taking my hand and leading me away from Daddy and Aunt Cora's steadily raising voices._

 _I felt glad she hadn't spoken loud enough for the two in the kitchen to hear her. If Aunt Cora knew I had been listening to their conversation, she would've glared down at me in that way she did and probably insisted Daddy punish me._

 _"But, I heard them yelling, and I heard them say my name," I said, looking down at the floor, shamefaced at being caught eavesdropping._

 _"That's no excuse to lurk in the hallway, listening in," Mommy said sternly. "Now go outside and play with Briana. She arrived a few minutes ago and has been waiting for you. Your aunt Cora, Daddy, and I all have to discuss adult things that children's ears shouldn't be hearing. I don't want to see you listening in again, understand?" She softened her stern tone of voice with a gentle smile, running her hands through my hair as she often did._

 _"Yes, Mommy," I said, turning to leave, but stopping and looking up at her. "Mommy?"_

 _"Yes, honey?" She asked, looking down at me._

 _"Who's Tom?"_

 _Mommy's eyes grew wide and she spoke in a whisper again, even though we were far enough away from the kitchen that we wouldn't be overheard by Daddy or Aunt Cora._

 _"Where did you hear that name?" Mommy asked._

 _"Daddy said he was going to speak to Tom about something," I said, unsure why Mommy had that look on her face. "Aunt Cora keeps telling him not to go, but he said he's going to. Who is he?"_

 _"Nobody," Mommy said. "Nobody you should concern yourself with. Now go outside and play. You don't want to keep Briana waiting, now do you?"_

 _"Okay," I said, reminded that Briana was outside waiting to play. I turned and ran out the door letting it shut with a bang._

 _As soon as Briana and I began to play, I forgot all about the way Aunt Cora had been yelling, how angry and frightened she had sound, and how Mommy had looked when I had mentioned the name Tom. My only concern was beating Briana in the race to the bottom of the hill._

 **I hope you all liked this chapter! There are only a few more chapters until this story is finished! I'm guessing around 5 more.**

 **When I write book 2 of this, I'll plan the whole story out before I write it. I didn't plan this story out, and I've just been making it up as I go.**

 **While I can write as a "Panster" (** _Writers who don't work to a set plan or outline, plucking ideas from their imagination as they write._ **), as I have been doing this entire story, I think I want to try my hand at writing as a "plotter" (** _Writers who spend a long time planning, outlining, researching, and organizing their plots before sitting down to write them_ **.) I think my stories would be much better if I knew exactly what was going to happen. Besides, I want to go though the experience of completely outlining a story before writing it.**

 **What do you think you are? A Panster or a Plotter? d**


	20. First Year, Part 20 (The Great Lake)

The headaches had gotten a bit better over time, but they still persisted every time I used my ability on someone. Perhaps it wasn't the headaches that had gotten better, but me that had gotten better at dealing with them.

After practicing for nearly a month now, reading people's moods had become easier for me. I didn't need to spend so much time trying to now, it just came naturally after having done it a few times. It was the side effects of using my eye that I had to worry about.

Aileen said it would probably go away after a while, but I didn't know about that.

Every time I read a person's mood, the cold pain behind my eye and the ache in my head would follow. At first, I had had to go straight away to my bed and lay down for a while, not being able to do much of anything due to the pain in my head. The girls in my dormitory had thought I was sick or something, as I was constantly laying down with a pillow over my head. After a few days of using my eye in this way though, I was able to continue on with my daily routines, despite the pain in my head.

The headaches only lasted a couple hours or so after using my eye. But sometimes, they were so bad that they lasted longer and I couldn't even concentrate on my school or what my professors were saying in classes. Today was going to be one of those days, I realized, as Frank and I made our way to the Charm's Classroom together.

At breakfast, Aileen had asked me to read the mood of a Slytherin girl who she sat next to every day. I had done as she asked, discovering that the Slytherin girl had been feeling happy at that time, and it had resulted in me getting one of the bad headaches. The ones that made it hard to stand without getting dizzy and nauseous.

That had only been a short while ago, and I still had a headache from it. I would probably have this headache for the rest of the day, and right now it was throbbing with pain.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Frank asked again as we entered the classroom. He had been asking me this every here and there since he saw me get up from the breakfast table and stagger back down again from dizziness.

"I'm fine," I replied, taking a seat in the front row of the classroom. "It's just a small headache."

"Yeah well," Frank said as he arranged his paper and quill on the desk, "Little headaches don't usually cause paleness and dizziness."

Before I could reply, Professor Filius Flitwick called our attention.

"Now class," He said, standing atop a large pile of books and facing the students, "Today we will be learning The Tickling Charm, also known as the Rictusempra Charm. Can anybody tell me what The Tickling Charm does? Yes, Miss Adams?" Professor Flitwick nodded to a Ravenclaw girl who was raising her hand eagerly.

"It creates a feeling of being tickled and causes the victim to buckle with laughter," She said.

"Very good! Five points to Ravenclaw!" Professor Flitwick said proudly. "The Tickling Charm produces tremendous tickling sensations in the victim, distracting him effectively. It is often used as a diversionary tactic in duels. It's quite a useful charm to know, as it can stop a threat that you don't necessarily want to injure badly. Since this charm creates a sensation of being tickled and makes the victim collapse to the ground, this charm can be called a "minor torturing" curse if it is continued too long. It is not to be taken lightly. I shall demonstrate The Tickling Charm to you all, and then you will practice it yourselves. Mr. Pettigrew, come stand here please."

The short boy behind me got up slowly, glancing back hesitatingly at his three companions who sat behind him.

"No need to be afraid," Professor Flitwick said reassuringly, "It won't hurt, and it'll last only a few seconds before I cast the counterspell on you."

Peter Pettigrew seemed reassured by this and stepped up to the front of the class.

"Now then," Professor Flitwick said, "Pay very close attention to the wand movement and the pronunciation of the charm."

Proffessor Flitwick flicked his wand and exclaimed "'Rictusempra!'" in his squeaky voice. A jet of silver light blasted out from the professor's wand, hitting Pettigrew right in the chest. Pettigrew crumbled to the floor, laughing his head off uncontrollably. He had a contagious laugh that made a few of the students laugh along with him.

After a minute of letting us see the charm's effects, Professor Flitwick flicked his wand and cast the counter-spell on Pettigrew.

Pettigrew abruptly stopped laughing and stood back up, his face reddening a little from the amount of attention on him.

Before anyone was allowed to cast the charm on another, Professor Flitwick had us all practice hand movement with our wands and the pronunciation.

"Now," Professor Flitwick said, "Only a few of you will be able to practice the charm today. The rest of you will continue to study it and be prepared to perform it next time. I'll call out your names and you shall perform the charm on each other. I will cast the counterspell right away after."

Hands everywhere in the classroom shot up, all eager to try the charm as if the professor had asked for volunteers. I kept my hand down, as I didn't feel up to casting any spells at the moment, what with my head hurting the way it did. I could barely pay attention and keep notes as it was.

Professor Flitwick ignored the hands, calling out two names.

"Miss Evans and Mr. Lupin," Professor said, motioning the two forward. "You will go first."

The two Gryffindors walked up to the front of the class and faced each other.

"Now, remember the hand movement and pronunciation," he said, demonstrated it to them again. "Pronounced Ric-tuh-SEM-pra," he said, stepping back as Remus Lupin faced Lily Evans.

In one quick motion, Remus Lupin cast the charm on Lilly, causing her to fall over with gales of laughter.

A minute later, Lily Evans did the same to Remus Lupin, causing him to bend over with uncontrollable laughter.

"Very good," Professor Flitwick squeaked happily at their success. "Five points each to Gryffindor."

Having performed the charm successfully in their first try, the two children went back to their seats, seeming pleased with themselves.

"Now, Mr. Black and Miss Adams, you give it a go." Professor Flitwick said.

The blond Ravenclaw girl who had spoken earlier got up and walked to the desk, looking a bit nervous. From two rows behind me, Sirius Black also got up and walked to the front of the classroom.

The two faced each other and Black effortlessly performed the charm on Adams. Professor Flitwick smiled brightly at him and cast the counter-spell on the laughing girl.

Adams stood up and pointed her wand at Black, taking a breath, as if to steady herself. At first, all that happened was a few silver sparks coming from her wand, but then on her third try a small jet of silver light came out and hit Black. Black fell to the floor, tilted his head back and roared with uncontrollable laughter. The girl beamed at her success.

After Professor Flitwick cast the counterspell on him, Black stood up and the two students went back to their seat, Sirius black having received five points and the Ravenclaw girl having received four.

"Mr. Potter and Miss Carrington," Professor Flitwick said, gesturing to me and Potter, "Now it is your turn."

I felt my heart sink as I heard my name called out. I didn't want to go up there in front of the whole class, especially when I wasn't feeling well.

James Potter stood up and walked toward Professor Flitwick, his confident expression only faltering a little when he looked at me and my red eye.

I slowly got up as well, aware of all the eyes on me as I made my way up to the front of the classroom.

"Now," Professor Flitwick began, but I cut in.

"Professor," I said quietly, "Can I skip out on this one? I don't feel up to performing the charm at the moment." I felt embarrassed for asking, but I had to. My head hurt and I felt dizzy. I didn't think I could do this charm when I felt sick like this. I wanted to go sit back down, away from all the eyes on me.

"Nonsense, Alexa," Professor Flitwick said, waving his small arm in a dismissive gesture, "You're one of my best students. Now, wands at the ready," He said, stepping back.

Before I could brace myself for it, James Potter shot the charm at me. It hit me square in the chest and flew back a little with the force of it. I began to laugh, unable to help it. I felt a tickling sensation all over me, and I couldn't stop laughing. The loud laughter hurt my already aching head, and I was glad as soon as it stopped.

I sat up slowly, feeling slightly nauseous. I looked around at all the eyes looking at me and felt my face turn a bit red. I hated being the center of attention.

"Go on," Professor Flitwick encouraged me at my hesitation. "Point and turn."

I pointed my wand at Potter and muttered the charm, flicking my wand lazily at him. I just wanted to get this over with. I felt so tired and I wanted to go lay down.

Instead of a silver light hitting his chest though, a bunch of silver sparks did and he fell to the floor. The sound that was coming out of his mouth wasn't laughter, not quite. It could only be described as the sound a donkey might make.

The whole class erupted into laughter at this and I could see Potter's face turn a bit red.

"Oh dear," Professor Flitwick squeaked, rushing over on his small legs to Potter.

He flicked his wand and Potter stopped making the sounds, staring angrily up at me.

"You did that on purpose!" He accused angrily, pointing his finger at me.

"No, I d-didn't mean to," I said, feeling everyone's gazes burning into me. I felt my face heat up with embarrassment.

"Don't be silly Mr. Potter," Professor Flitwick said, "Mistakes happen. Though I must admit Miss Carrington, I am a bit disappointed. You've never messed up in my class before. Oh well, nothing to be done about it. You may both return to your seats. The rest of you can continue to practice the hand movement for now. There will be no more examples today."

With a final scowl at me, James Potter stalked back to his seat, bumping me in the shoulder as he did so. His face was still red and I didn't know whether it was from embarrassment or from laughing, if it could be called that.

I walked back over to my seat next to Frank, avoiding everyone's eyes. I felt embarrassed and ashamed. Charms was one of my favorite subjects, and because of this headache, I couldn't even perform something I usually could pull off with ease. I just could not concentrate when there was a constant ache in my head and I felt exhausted.

When class was finally over, Professor Flitwick assigned the all students a large amount of homework, more than he had ever had us do before, reminding us all that exams were nearing and we needed to study hard if we wanted to pass.

I stood up along with the rest of the class and gathered my notes, what there were of them anyway. I hadn't taken many. As I turned to go though, Professor Flitwick called out to me to remain.

I noticed Potter giving me a glare as he and his friends left. Frank smiled encouragingly as he and Mathew Hemingway left together, talking about the lesson.

"Are you feeling alright?" Professor Flitwick asked once all the students had departed. "It's not like you to mess up like that in Charms, Alexa."

"I told you, Professor," I said, too ashamed to meet his gaze. "I don't feel up to performance today. I have a headache. I am sorry, it was an accident."

"Oh, well that explains it then," Professor Flitwick said, "You can't very well perform magic when you're unfocused. You are to go straight to Madam Pomfrey and tell her of this. She'll give you a potion to help treat headaches."

"Yes, professor," I said, "Is that all?"

"That is all," Professor Flitwick said, smiling up at me. "Remember to practice the charm this week. I expect you to have mastered it by the end of Easter Break."

"I will," I assured him. I turned and left the classroom, sighing in relief that he hadn't scolded me like some of the other professors may have.

I decided I would go study in my room instead of the library. Even though I had a headache, I need to start on all the homework the professors had loaded us with.

As I rounded the corridor, I felt myself being shoved against the wall in a quick motion, two pairs of hands holding me. I gasped in surprise at the sudden movement.

"What?" I said confused, looking up into the two boys faces who had pushed me.

"I think you owe my best mate here an apology," Sirius black said calmly as if we were having a conversation about the weather and he hadn't just shoved me against the wall. "And, of course, he owes you something as well."

I looked at him blankly, not understanding for a minute.

James Potter, on the other hand, looked anything but calm.

"I should cast The Tickling Charm on you and then leave you here for that little stunt back their, Freak," he sneered down at me. He was a good two heads taller than me, and I felt suddenly afraid.

"I-I didn't m-mean to," I said desperately, looking around frantically for a solution to the situation I found myself in. The hallway was practically empty, only a few students were standing by who had stopped to watch us but did nothing to help. "I'm s-sorry," I sputtered, trying to move out of the boy's grasps on me.

"I-I d-didn't h-hear you," Potter said mockingly. "S-Sirius, did y-you h-hear what she s-said?"

Black snickered. "No, James, I couldn't understand her through all that stuttering."

"I'm sorry," I said again, my best not to stutter this time. "It was an accident, I s-swear." I couldn't help the stutter on the last word. I felt my heart racing in fear. I had seen what James Potter and Sirius Black did to those they disliked. One time, they had hung a Slytherin boy from the doorway to the Great Hall by his trousers and left him there to dangle. The professors had found the boy eventually and gotten the boy down, but the boy's dignity hadn't been left intact.

"An accident my arse," Potter roared angrily. It scared me how mad he looked. "You did it on purpose. As Flitwick said, you're one of the best in Charms. There's no way you just made a mistake."

"Can you p-please let go of me?" I asked, feeling stupid even as I said it. I knew they weren't going to let go.

"Let go of you?" Black asked, glancing at Potter. "What do you think James, should we let go of her?"

"You know Sirius," James said, getting the same odd look Black currently had on his face, as if they had both just came to the same conclusion at the same time, "I think she's right. We should let go of her."

"Guys..." A warning voice came from behind them, "Don't do anything stupid."

For the first time, I realized Potter and Black weren't alone. Behind them stood Remus Lupin, looking quite anxious and a bit helpless. Beside him stood Peter Pettigrew, gazing on with something like awe. I don't know how I hadn't seen them in the beginning.

The two boys ignored Remus and continued to glare at me.

"We'll let go of you, Freak," Potter said viciously. "and while we're at it, we'll repay you for what you did."

I didn't understand what they meant by that until the two boys simultaneous picked me up and started to carry me down the hallway, kicking and screaming. Black had me by the arms and Potter held on to my legs as they carried me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, panicked and trying hard to struggle out of their grasps. "L-Let go of me."

"Nope," Black said, a gleeful smile on his face. "Not until we reach our destination. Then we'll let go of you."

"Don't worry," Potter said, "We'll be there in a couple of minutes. Peter, give us a hand, will you? She's heavier than she looks."

I felt another pair of hands under my back as Peter Pettigrew joined in. As much as I tried to struggle, the boys were much stronger than me, and there were three of them and only one of me.

"Guys, don't do this," I heard Remus say pleadingly, but the boys ignored him.

We only passed a few other students down the hallway, and none of them offered any assistance, only giving us knowing looks. They were used to James Potter and his group of friends and knew better than to interfere.

"James," I heard Remus try again, "It was just an accident. There's no need to-"

"Put a lid on it, Remus," Potter said, and Remus quieted immediately. I didn't understand how Remus was friends with someone like that, or why he would even want to be.

Somehow, through my screams of protest, which had been muffled by a hand that covered my mouth, the trio managed to sneak pass any teachers that might be around and carry me outside onto the Hogwarts grounds.

The grounds were muddy from days of rain and the snow had only recently melted all away. It was springtime, and there was a slight chill in the air, but the weather was still quite nice out. I could hear the chirping of many birds and the sun was shining brightly. It was a beautiful day, and yet, I could see no one else outside. No one that could help me.

The boys were getting tired of carrying me, I could tell. Their grips were loosening and they were breathing heavily. I had used most of my energy on trying to escape, but I wasn't about to give up.

With a quick, unexpected jerk of my body, I turned around and managed to escape their grasps. I fell to the ground and was up in a minute, running towards the castle.

I was no match for them though, not with my wooden leg. I could barely jog, and the boys had a hold of me again in a moment.

It was useless, I would just have to endure whatever prank they did and hope it wasn't too humiliating.

"Let me go," I pleaded, tears falling down my face helplessly. I didn't understand why this was happening. "P-Please. It was a-an accident, I didn't mean to. I'm s-sorry."

"As you wish," Black said, and as one, the tree boys swung me back and forth, ready to hurl me into the water. Suddenly, I realized where they had brought me.

"No!" I screamed, but it was of no use.

"Say hi to the Giant Squid for us." One of them said and the rest of them broke out into laughter as they threw me into the freezing Black Lake.

The icy water hit me like a ton of bricks, the coldness shocking me as I plunged beneath the surface of the lake that had only recently thawed out.

"Help!" I tried to call out before my head sank below the surface with the rest of me flailing. It ended up sounding like a gargled word though.

I felt so much fear in me then as I sank to the bottom, where sand covered the ground with large spots of seaweed. My chest tightened from it as the understanding that I was about to die sank in. There was no one to save me, no one who would help me.

I flailed and kicked helplessly, trying to reach the lit surface above me. It was useless. Although the water wasn't that deep, I would need to swim up to reach the surface. A normal child could do it easily, but not me. Even if I had ever learned how to swim, I wouldn't be able to. Not with this wooden leg weighing me down.

I wanted to scream for help, but I couldn't. My lungs felt like they were on fire and my head felt like it was about to explode as I flailed about desperately. I needed to breathe, now.

No matter how hard I kicked my legs or how much I swung my arms in frantic circles, I couldn't reach the top. I could feel my vision began to go blurry, and I knew there was no hope for me.

Just before I lost consciousness, before everything went pitch black, I saw a shape coming towards me. My vision darkened before I make out its size. All I saw was a shape moving toward me in the water at high speed. I wasn't as scared as I should be though.

Whatever kind of creature it was that resided here in the Black Lake, it couldn't harm me now. Whether it was a Merperson, Grindylows, or even the Giant Squid itself, it could do nothing to me know. The water had already claimed my life.

 **I hope you all liked this chapter, and none of you are upset at how I made The Marauders out to be. They WERE bullies in their younger school years, and James Potter doesn't like being humiliated in front of the whole class like that.**

 **With this story almost finished, I decided to create a survey for you guys to take, to help me decide something about Book 2. I can't decide who's character's point of view I should write Book 2 from. It would mean the world to me if you would take this quick survey to help me decide! :)**

 **Also, can you guys help me out with a quick question? For BOOK 2, who's POV (Point Of View) should I tell it from? I've been telling this story from Alexa's point of view only. Please comment your answer to help me decide! :)**

 **A -** _Continue telling the story from Alexa's point of view only, like how it's been._

 **B -** _Tell the story from not only Alexa's POV, but also Aileen's and Frank's point of view._

 **C -** _Tell the story from multiple character's_ point _of views; Alexa, Aileen, Frank, Sirius, James, Remus, Lily, etc..._

 **Thank you guys all so much for continuing to read this! :D And please post what answer you think! It'll really help me decide!**


	21. First Year, Part 21 (The Easter Holiday)

"Where is Daddy?" I asked, "When will he be back?"

"I don't know, Honey," Mommy was pacing back in forth and seemed quite distracted. "I don't know."

"But he promised he would read The Three Goblins to me if I was good while he was gone," I persisted. "Will he be back before bedtime?"

"He should have already been back by now," Mommy said, more to herself than to me. "Something must have gone wrong. I told him it would. He wouldn't listen. He never listens. Why couldn't he just listen, just this once?"

Mommy wasn't making any sense, and I was about to ask her what she was talking about when the door to the living room burst open, causing me and Mommy to jump back in fright.

"Daddy!" I jumped off the couch and rushed over to embrace him.

"Charles, Dear, what happened?" Mommy sounded worried behind me. "Are you alright?"

As I hugged Daddy, I felt something wet seeping through my sleeve. I pulled away and saw red stains that had soaked through the sleeves of my dress to my skin. It felt warm.

"Daddy, you're bleeding!" I exclaimed in realization.

"I'm fine, Darling," Daddy reassured me, "Just a small scrape or two."

"Let me take a look," Mommy started to lift up the hem of his shirt, "What happened?"

"There's no time for that now," Daddy brushed her hand aside. "We have to leave. Now." Daddy made his way over to the fireplace and removed one of the bricks, the one that hid the "secret puzzle piece" as Daddy had once called it.

"Here," He took out the black metal piece and handed it to me. "You hold on to this for me. I need you to keep it safe until we get to where we're going."

I nodded my head and took the metal piece from him, placing it in my dress pocket. "Where are we going?" I asked.

A loud knocking sound was heard from the hall, startling me.

"They are here," Daddy had a look of panic in his eyes. "Abigail, take Alexa upstairs and hide in the master bedroom. You should be safe there."

"What about you?" Mommy asked, scooping me up and heading toward the stairs.

"I'll try to talk to them. Whatever happens, stay hidden."

I held on to Mommy tightly as she fled upstairs, down the hallway and into hers and Daddy's room.

From downstairs, I heard a loud crashing noise and someone yelling.

"Mommy," I whispered, "I'm scared."

"Don't worry, Honey. We'll be fine. " Mommy said as she closed the door to the bedroom behind her quietly, "I promise."

I felt something pushing down hard on my chest over and over again as I came to. I felt water come surging up to my mouth and I rolled over onto the muddy ground to cough up lungfuls of water, gasping desperately for breath.

"Oh, thank goodness," I heard a relieved voice say from beside me.

"Remus, did you just kiss her?" Another voice asked, sounding thoroughly disgusted.

"Don't be daft, Pete," A different voice said, "He was performing CPR on her."

"What's CPR?"

I tried to ignore the voices around me as water came burning up my throat and I continued to cough and splutter. I was gasping for breath and I felt tears began to stream down my face. My heart pounded hard in my chest and I felt sobs escaping me. I felt embarrassed for crying in front of a group of people, but I couldn't stop the tears and sobs from escaping.

"Are you alright, Alexa?" The first voice asked.

I tried to answer but ended up only coughing again.

"I can't believe this happened." This voice sounded rather dazed and unbelieving.

"What happened? How did she even get in that water?"

"You pushed her in there, didn't you Potter!" I knew this voice as belonging to Lily Evans.

"What do you know? Where you there?"

"It was Potter who saved her, actually. I saw him, he was the one who got her out of the water, Evans."

I tried to open my eyes to look around me, but my vision was too blurry from tears and my hands were covered too much in the mud from the wet ground to wipe them away. All I saw was mists of color around the people who hovered over me. Even in my confused state, I recognized the moods as worried, confused and fearful. It was exactly how I felt at the moment.

"We need to get her to Madam Pomfrey," The soft voice that had first spoken said. "She's shivering and turning blue with the cold."

"What happened?" Another voice asked again.

"Somebody giver her a jacket."

"Merlin, she's actually turning blue."

"I know you had something to do with this," The voice I recognized as belonging to Lily spoke again. She sounded mad. "My friend saw you bullies bothering her earlier in the hallways."

"Out of the way, out of the way," I heard a thundering voice say. I recognized the voice as Hagrid's.

Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted up into huge arms. I struggled to get away from the person on instinct.

"There now," Hagrid said, "Calm down now, Alexa. Yeh're safe. I'm takin' yeh to Madam Pomfrey"

I relaxed into the warmth that emanated off of him, my teeth chattering and my body shivering from the cold as he carried me away from all the students and their questions.

"Wha' happened?" Hagrid asked as he carried me back to the castle.

I couldn't answer him, so I just shrugged my shoulders in answer. I felt if I opened my mouth again, I would start another coughing fit, and my throat burned enough as it was.

Soon we had reached the infirmary and Hagrid set me down gently on one of the beds before Madam Pomfrey began to fuss over me as was her custom with her patients.

Pomfrey covered me in thick blankets and cast warming spells on me, and I managed to stop shivering uncontrollably after a while. She handed me a cup of warm tea, but I couldn't bring myself to drink it, fearing I might cough it up.

"Drink it," Madam Pomfrey commanded gently but sternly when she saw me shake my head in response, "It has honey in it and it will soothe your throat."

I took a hesitant sip and then drank more fully after realizing I wouldn't cough it up, letting the sweet, warm liquid sooth my dry throat.

"Alexa, Dear," Madam Pince looked down at me, concerned. "What happened? A few students have told me that this is James Potter and Sirius Black's doing, though I don't know whether to believe it or not. It seems harsh, even for those two. Is it true? Did they have anything to do with you nearly drowning?" Her face took on an expression of anger as she spoke. "Because if they did, I will see to it that they are given a severe punishment they won't ever forget."

"I-I," I wasn't sure what to say. If I told her James Potter and the others had thrown me into the lake, what would happen? Would they be expelled for nearly killing one of the students? Or would they be punished with detentions? The punishment would be severe, whatever it was.

For a moment, I felt a strange sense of glee knowing that they would be punished for what they did, and I hoped they would be expelled. That way, they could never bother me again, I would never have to lay eyes on them again. But then I felt a bit guilty for thinking that way. They were just kids, after all. I didn't want to be the cause of them all being expelled from Hogwarts, even if they had hurt me. I would be ruining their lives if I got them expelled.

If I got the boys in trouble, not expelled, I knew they wouldn't be happy with me. I couldn't imagine what they might do if I got them into serious trouble. Just accidentally embarrassing James Potter in Charms had gotten me thrown in the Great Lake, I feared what might happen if I told on them. I had to go to school with these boys for another six school years, I didn't want to be on their bad sides, especially knowing them and how they treated those they disliked.

Taking a deep breath, I answered Madam Pomfrey.

"I slipped and fell in the water," the words were hard to say, but I said them anyway. "Somebody pulled me out."

Madam Pince looked at me for a long moment. "You fell?"

"It was muddy out," I replied, not meeting her eyes. "I feel much better now, Pomfrey. Can I go? I need to get to Transfiguration class."

"Very well," She sighed, looking at me in approval. "Be sure to stay away from the Great Lake in the future, Alexa. You could have died if you had been in there only a few minutes longer. You shouldn't go anywhere near it if you can't swim."

"I know," I said, getting up, "I'll be more careful next time." With that, I left the infirmary and headed to class.

As I headed in the direction of Transfiguration, trying to hurry along and avoid any questions students might try to ask me, I spotted the four boys up ahead of me leaning against the wall. At the same moment I saw them, they saw me.

I turned around quickly and began to walk the other way, not sure where I planned to go, but anywhere away from them.

"Wait!" I heard one of them say. I really hated how I couldn't go as fast as most people with my wooden leg slowing me down. Otherwise, I would have run away to escape them. A moment later they were all beside me.

"What d-do you want?" I asked, shrinking back as they all surrounded me, looking desperately for an escape route. Were they going to grab me again?

"It's alright, Alexa," Remus said in a calm voice. "Relax." It didn't reassure me, though. True, Remus hadn't actually thrown me in the lake or helped the boys do it, but Remus had sat by and watched them do it and had done nothing about it. I trusted him just as much as I trusted the rest of them. If they did something, I couldn't count on his help, that I knew. Maybe if I screamed for help one of the professors would hear.

"S-stay away from me," I said, backing up.

"Listen," James Potter said, scratching his head. "we didn't mean to, I mean, we just meant to give you a little dunking, that's all. How were we supposed to know you couldn't swim? I mean, it wasn't our fault-"

"James!" Remus cut in sternly. "It was completely your fault."

"What I meant to say, is, uh-"

From beside him, Sirius Black rolled his eyes. "What James is trying to say, and failing terribly, I might add, is that we didn't mean to actually put you in danger, we just meant to scare you a little for what you did to James back in Charms. We wanted to apologize for nearly drowning you."

"Yeah, we're sorry we nearly drowned you." the words came out in a rush from Potter, as if they were actually hard for him to say. They seemed forced and rehearsed and he didn't meet my gaze as he said them. It was as if there was a teacher standing nearby making him do it, but from what I could see, no one was forcing him.

I stared at him, wondering if he was actually being serious or not.

"Y-you are?" I asked, incredulously. Was this some sort of trick, to get me to put my defenses down before they pulled some kind of prank on me? I had never known Potter or Black to apologize to anyone they pulled a prank on. I wished Aileen was here to do the talking, she would know how to get rid of them and make them leave me alone.

"Did you tell anyone it was us?" Potter asked casually as if he didn't care one way or the other, but from the way he stared at me expectantly, I knew he was worried I'd told and gotten them into trouble.

"Alexa, they didn't mean to actually hurt you," Remus said, "They weren't thinking, as usual, and-"

"No," I said, interrupting Remus, not sure where they were going with this, "I didn't tell."

James Potter let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, that's good," Potter said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "See, Remus, I told you."

Black didn't seem reassured though, staring at me suspiciously.

"Why wouldn't you tell?" Black asked. "That doesn't make any sense."

"I-I don't know," I responded. "I just didn't. C-can you let m-me pass now? I'm gonna be late for class."

"Sure," Potter said, stepping aside.

Before he could change his mind, I rushed past him and went straight to Transfiguration, the boys trailing at a slower pace behind me.

I kept expecting a curse or a spell to hit my back, but nothing happened. I reached transfiguration unharmed and sat down in my usual seat, getting out my parchment and quill. Perhaps Potter really was sorry, and he wouldn't bother me anymore. I didn't know, but I could only hope.

With Easter Break the next day, I didn't see the four boys again for another week, for which I was extremely glad of.

Not as many students went back home for the Easter Holiday as had gone home for Christmas Break. Aileen stayed, like on Christmas, but Frank left to visit with his parents.

Although Easter Break was supposed to be just that, a break, the professors had given us all so much homework that I ended up spending most of Easter Break completing it. I had easily mastered The Tickling Charm over the Easter holidays as Proffessor Flitwick had told me, and he was quite proud when I showed him the next time in class.

I didn't tell anyone what had really happened back at the lake, and when Frank and Aileen asked about it, I told them the same story I had told Madam Pomfrey and anyone else who had asked me. I had slipped and fell.

Remus Lupin had tried to talk to me a few times during the following weeks after the Easter holidays, but I had made excuses about needing to study and he had stopped trying after the first few times. I think he took the hint that I didn't want to talk to him.

Other than the few times Lupin had tried to talk to me, the four boys ignored me as usual, going about as they usually did. I avoided them at all costs, doing my best to not sit anywhere near them at meal times or during class.

It appeared that I wasn't going to be one of their usual victim's of pranks, so I took that as a sign that I had done the right thing is not tattling on them. If I had, I would probably end up like the Slytherin boy Snape, who was constantly being tormented by the boys.

I could only hope it stayed that way and their attention stayed away from me for the rest of my years at Hogwarts.

 **I hoped you all liked this chapter! I myself didn't feel like it was the chapter I wanted it to be, but it will have to do. Only about four chapters left to go.**

 **To any of you who haven't voted, please go do so now in the comments. It will really help me decide! :)**

 **Thank you so, so much to all of you who have already voted on that poll! :D I love seeing the results!**

 **For BOOK 2, who's POV (Point Of View) should I tell it from? I've been telling this story from Alexa's point of view only. Please comment your answer to help me decide! :)**

 **A -** _Continue telling the story from Alexa's point of view only, like how it's been._

 **B -** _Tell the story from not only Alexa's POV, but also Aileen's and Frank's point of view._

 **C -** _Tell the story from multiple character's_ point _of views; Alexa, Aileen, Frank, Sirius, James, Remus, Lily, etc..._


	22. First Year, Part 22 (The Boarhound Dog)

"Lily, come on!" Marlene begged, "It's absolutely wonderful outside."

"Exams are in less than a month," Lily said. "I need to study for them."

"But it's Sunday!" Marlene whined. "Everyone has gone outside. You can't just sit there studying all day. You need to get up and move about, get your blood pumping, you know?"

"She's right, you know," The short blond girl, Margareta, said from where she was standing in the doorway, about to leave with the rest of the girls. "You've been sitting there all day. It's not healthy for you, Lily."

I turned the page to the book I was reading, trying to tune them out so I could concentrate. At the same time though, I couldn't help but listen in on their conversation that I wasn't a part of. If I couldn't participate in their conversation, the least I could do was listen. It wasn't the same, but by listening to the girls, I got to know them a bit. Besides, it wasn't as if I could completely not listen to them. We shared a room, after all.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and as Marlene had said, almost all of the students had chosen to go outside today.

"Just go on without me," Lily insisted. "I still have an hour of studying left to do. I can't afford to fail the coming up exams. I'll come join you in a little while."

"Fine," Marlene gave a defeated sigh. "We'll go have all the fun there is to have without you. By ourselves. Who knows what will happen without your words of wisdom to guide us. Who knows, we might just end up pranking some innocent passerby."

Lily rolled her eyes. Marlene was known to prank people, though not in a mean way. "You better not. Now go on, you're making it so I can't study and I'll never be able to go outside if I don't complete this homework assignment."

"Farewell," Marlene said with a dramatic sigh as she turned to leave with the others, "We will miss you terribly."

With that, Marlene, Carry, Alice, and Margareta left the dormitory. The only ones left were Lily and me. Lily continued to write the answers on a sheet of paper while I continued to read my book, neither of us speaking as we studied.

The group of girl's hadn't asked me if I would like to go on the picnic they were having, but, it was what I expected. I rarely got asked to go do anything with anyone besides my two friends.

Over the months of living with these girls, I had gotten to know each of them. Sort of, anyhow. We hadn't really held any long conversations, just civilities every here and there. I had kind of gotten to know them by listening to them when they spoke. They usually just ignored me if I was in the room, as we weren't friends, but I didn't ignore them.

Marlene McKinnon seemed to be a girl who liked to have fun and take risks. She was also very active, always full of energy, and loved flying lessons. She was a bit of a tomboy on the inside, though on the outside she looked nothing like a tomboy. She had befriended Lily Evans very early on in the school year, and since then the two had been very close friends. They were kind of opposites, so I sometimes didn't understand their friendship.

Then there was Carry, a tall thin girl with long black hair. She was usually very quiet and kept to herself. I had tried to talk to her once or twice, as she seemed the least intimidating of the whole group, but she always seemed scared of me so I gave up. The other girls in our dormitory seemed to like her enough to try to befriend her, but for the most part, she liked to be alone.

Margarete reminded me very much of the Gryffindor boy in my year, Peter Pettigrew. She was blond, short, and a little plump. She, apparently, knew where the kitchens were and claimed to go down there and invent all kinds of recipes. But unlike Peter, Margarete was sweet and kind and wouldn't even kill an insect. Peter, along with the other boys he was around all the time had mean streaks in them and were cruel. Margarete was nothing like that. Margarete was friends with Peter Pettigrew. They would sit together at meal times sometimes, Peter sampling the treats and cheeses Margareta had made.

Alice Longbottom, another of Lily's close friends had spoken to me on a few occasions. True, we never had any real conversations, but she was at least friendly and didn't ignore me or be frightened of me like most. Although Alice was a sweet girl, she was also quite fierce when it came to what she believed was right. She, like Lily, was one of the few in our year who had openly reprimanded Black and Potter on occasion, though not as strongly as Lily did.

I liked all of the girls, and I would have loved to be friends with them. But that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. They thought of me as a freak so they never bothered to try to get to know me.

After a while of studying in silence, Lily got up and stretched. "I suppose they were right after all," She said.

I looked up from the book I was reading, confused "What?" I asked.

"About needing to move," She said, "My legs are falling asleep. I'm going to go join them, wherever they are. Do you wanna come? Margareta snuck some treats from the kitchen and she said she made special cookies for the picnic."

I felt touched by Lily's kindness, however, misplaced it was. I didn't think she realized how awkward it would be for me to just sit there and be silent while they all ignored me. I didn't think Lily really noticed.

"No thanks, Lily," I said, "I don't think they would want me there."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lily frowned, "They wouldn't mind."

"No, it's fine," I said, "I have to study anyway. And after I'm done with that, I'm meeting up with Aileen in the library. We're going to go visit Hagrid today."

"If you insist," Lily said, shrugging her shoulders and pulling out a pair of shoes from under her bed. "Can you believe in just about a month we'll all be going back home?"

"Are you excited to be going back?" I asked, thinking of my own home. Well, I could hardly call it home. Home is where the heart is. Just because I lived there, that didn't make it a home to me. My home had been taken from me. The place I lived in now was nothing more than a house to me, not a home.

"Not really," Lily bent over to tie her shoelaces. "I have friends here, and I don't really know anyone back home but Severus. Don't get me wrong," Lily straighten back up and stood up, grabbing her jacket that hung over her trunk. "Severus is a great friend, but I like girl company on occasion, you know?"

"Don't you have a sister?"

"Yes, how did you know that?" Lily looked surprised.

"I guess I heard you mention her once or twice," I said, shrugging.

"If you've heard me mention her, you probably know that my sister and I don't get along," Lily said, "She thinks I'm a freak because I know magic. Ever since she found out I was accepted at Hogwarts, she barely spoke a word to me. And when she did, it was some insult or another. We used to be close, but not anymore."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said. I had not known Lily didn't get along with her sister. I only even knew she had a sister because I had heard her mention to Marlene that she had a sister back home one time.

"I don't really care," Lily said, shrugging her jacket on. "Anyhow, I better go find them before they finish the picnic. Are you sure you don't want to join, Alexa?"

"I'm sure. Have fun," I said, smiling up at her as she left.

A short while after Lily had left, I got up, closing the book I had been reading and grabbed my jacket beside my bed. Although it was a beautiful and sunny day out, there was a bit of a chill in the air today.

I walked down to the Gryffindor common room - not surprised to find only one other student there, and out the portrait hole.

I found Aileen reading in the library. She was so absorbed in what she was reading, I couldn't resist.

Sneaking up behind her, I exclaimed "Boo!" and grasped onto Aileen's shoulders, giving them a slight shake.

Aileen let out a little noise and jumped in her seat. She dropped the book she had been reading and whirling around, her eyes wide.

"Alexa!" She said in exasperation.

Just then, Madam Pince rounded the corner. "Out," she said firmly. "out now."

Aileen and I didn't linger, immediately making our way out of the library, Madam Pince's hard glare burning into our backs.

Once we were out, Aileen glared over at me. "What did you do that for?"

I laughed, "You should have seen your face."

"I'm going to get you for that, Alexa."

"Good luck," I replied, "Are you ready to go see Hagrid now? I would think you would be done studying by now."

"Yes, I'm ready," Aileen said, stuffing her hands in her pockets, "I was just reading some random books while I waited for you," she opened the castle doors that led outside as she spoke. "Now let's go see Hagrid. You can finally meet that dog of his I told you about."

It took me a second to understand what she was talking about, but then I remembered her telling me that Hagrid had found a dog on their way back after Sharem had died. I felt a stab of pain in my heart as I thought of Sharem. Ignoring it, I put a smile on my face and walked outside onto Hogwarts grounds with Aileen.

As we walked towards Hagrid's hut, we passed many students. Some were walking like us, some were seated on the grass, blankets spread out along with a variety of food, and some were lounging in trees. It looked like the whole student body had decided to go outside today.

"Have you tried reading anyone's mood lately?" Aileen was careful to speak quietly, glancing around to make sure no one overheard.

"No," I replied, "I told you, I'm taking a break from that. The last mood I read was that Gryffindor girl's,"

"I really don't think you should stop," Aileen said, "What if you forget how or something?"

"I'm not going to forget how. It's not something you would forget how to do. With exams being in less than a month, I can't afford to be having those awful headaches all the time. I need to study. Once exams have passed through, I'll be able to practice more."

"You should also practice trying to do the other things mentioned in that book," Aileen said. "During summer break, perhaps."

"Maybe," I said, "I'm scared to try anything else though. What if I go into another coma?"

"Don't try anything extreme, like trying to control people, just yet. Just try to do the lesser things, like reading a person's health."

"I don't even know where I would start," I said. We were nearing Hagrid's hut. "But I'm not going to have much else to do over the summer holidays, so I'll have plenty of time to practice."

Reaching Hagrid's hut, Aileen knocked a few times on the door. After a few seconds with no response, she knocked again, harder.

"Do you think he's home?" I looked around me, "It's a nice day out, maybe he's outside somewhere like everyone else." It had been a long while since I had visited Hagrid, the last time being around the time I got out of the coma. I had gone there to thank him for what he had done for Sharem.

Just then, the door opened to reveal Hagrid towering over us.

"Oh, hello there," Hagrid looked a bit surprised to see us but moved aside nonetheless to let us in, "Come in, come in. Wasn' expectin' yeh, but there's tea ready for yeh if yeh wan' any.."

I smiled up at him as we brushed past him to go inside.

"Thank you," I began, but froze once I was inside. We weren't the only ones here.

"We didn't realize you had company," Aileen said, turning to go, "We'll be on our way."

"Yeah," I said, turning to go as well. "We'll come another time."

"We were just leaving, actually," Sirius Black said, standing from the chair and stretching.

"Yeah," James Potter agreed from across from Black, "Thanks for the tea Hagrid."

"Yeh welcome, James," Hagrid said, scratching his head as he watched the four boys leave. He seemed a bit confused, looking between the boys and us.

As they walked past us, they didn't spare Aileen or me a glance, just walked by like we were invisible, talking about something Hagrid had shown them in excited tones.

As soon as they were gone, I turned to Hagrid. "Why were they here?" My question sounded a bit accusatory, even though I didn't mean it to.

"They came to visit' me and Fang. They're nice lads, once yeh get to know them."

I didn't say anything to that, instead choosing to follow Aileen's example and hang my jacket on the door rack.

Just then a loud bark echoed off the walls causing both Aileen and I to jump in terror. I Whirled around towards the noise, expecting to see a giant dog about to attack, my wand up and ready. I didn't know what I planned to do with it, though. All I saw though was a dog lying contentedly on a rugby Hagrid's bed, staring up at Aileen and me, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"I hate it when he does that," Aileen sounded exasperated as she took a seat at the table.

After making sure the dog wasn't going to attack me, I lowered my wand and looked at Hagrid. "Is this the dog you found?"

"Sure is. That's just his way of sayin' hi. Hagrid said reassuringly. "Wan' ter pet him, Alexa?"

"Err, no thank you. I would like to keep the limbs I have left. I'm just going to take a seat, far away from him, if you don't mind."

"Don' be scared," Hagrid said, "His bark is a lo' tougher than his bite. He's as friendly as they come. He won' bite yeh or anythin'."

I glanced at Aileen for confirmation of this. When it came to beasts of any kind, Hagrid was often blinded by his affection for them. Aileen nodded her head and ushered me towards the black dog.

I took a hesitant step toward the dog and bent down to scratch behind his ear. The dog leaned into my touch as I pet him.

"Wow, he's so soft," I said, relaxing when I saw he wasn't going to bite my arm off.

The dog barked again happily, causing me to jump back in surprise. The dog had a loud bark. As I moved my hand back, he began to lick me, his tail wagging.

"Oh, gross," I stepped back, suddenly drenched in drool where he had licked me.

"He likes yeh," Hagrid said.

"Does he have a name?" I gave the dog another pat on the head to show him I wasn't mad at him for slobbering all over me and then seated myself at the table next to Aileen.

"His name is Fang," Hagrid said, pouring two cups of hot tea and handing them to Aileen and I. "A while ago, Fang found himself bein' strangled by some Devil's Snare. A studen' helped the poor pup and brough' him back ter me."

"Pup?" I asked, "He's a puppy still? He's the size of a full grown dog though."

"Fang is a boarhound," Aileen said, "They grow to be huge. Much larger than normal dogs."

"When we found him," Hagrid said, "He was a lot smaller than he is now." Hagrid gave the dog an affectionate pat on the head and then sat down across from Aileen and me.

"How have you been, Alexa?" Hagrid asked, sitting down. "It's been quite a while since you last visited."

"I know," I said, "A lot's been going on, I guess I just could never find the time to visit until now. Besides being nearly drowned, I've been studying like crazy for the approaching exams. Do you think I'll be able to pass them?"

I hoped Hagrid hadn't noticed how I evaded the answer to his question. I didn't want to talk about how I had been doing after Sharem died, and I knew that's what he was asking.

"Of course yeh will, Alexa," Hagrid said, "You're one of the brightest witches in yer year. You didn' answer the question though, how have you been? You know, after what happened with yer friend Sharem. It mus' be hard for yer."

So he had noticed my evasive answer.

"I miss him," I said after a moment, taking a sip from the cup of tea to stall for time, hoping Aileen or Hagrid would change the subject. They didn't, and I was stuck with the bitter taste of the tea in my mouth.

"I miss him too," Aileen said, "Even though we didn't really have much time to get to know him, I was beginning to like him. Sure, I didn't know whether he could be trusted or not, but I was beginning to like him. I wish I could have had the time to get to know him better."

"I keep dreaming of him," I said, surprised that I was telling them this. "I dream of when we met him, and all the times we spent down there with him, Aileen. And, I dream of the night he was killed." I felt my throat constrict, and I stopped talking for a moment, trying to get the lump out of my throat.

"It's hard," Hagrid said, "I've los' people I care about too. You never stop missin' them." Hagrid got a faraway look on his face for a moment as he spoke. I wondered who it was that he had lost.

"Things remind me of him all the time," I said quietly, fiddling with the handle of my teacup, "Like when we're in class and a Ravenclaw speaks up and then gets that look on their face that Sharem used to get when he was right about something. I wish we'd had just a little more time with him."

There was a moment of silence when nobody knew what to say.

"Anyway," I said, trying to change the subject and get off the topic of Sharem. It only hurt when I talked about him, so I tried to avoid it at all costs. If I didn't quit talking about him, I knew I would start to cry, and I didn't want to start crying in front of Aileen or Hagrid. "Have you gotten any new and strange beasts lately, Hagrid?"

"As a matter of fac'," Hagrid said, standing up excitedly, either eager to switch topic as I was or forgetting in his excitement, "I jus' found this little guy in the forest' las' night. I was showin' him ter the boys before yeh came. Here, have a look."

He placed a small cage on the table and uncovered it, revealing a small brown creature inside, it's two beady eyes staring up at us. It looked kind of like a rat, but it didn't have any tale or ears. It looked kind of cute, with all its brown fuzz all over it.

"Can I touch it?"

Aileen answered before Hagrid. "Absolutely not. Those things bite."

"He tried ter bite me," Hagrid said, "But I guess my skin is too tough for him. They have very small teeth, you know."

"What are you going to do with him?" I asked.

"I'm goin' ter keep him. I haven' decided on a name fer him yet, but I will."

Hagrid covered the small cage again and put it back on the shelf he had taken it down from.

"Hagrid," I looked up at him, chewing the nail on my thumb nervously, "Do you think it would be possible for me to go back to the forbidden forest, to where Sharem is buried?"

Hagrid looked surprised by the question. "Why?"

"I didn't get to say goodbye to him," I said quietly, "I would like to say goodbye before I have to go back for the summer."

Hagrid seemed to understand. "Of course, Alexa. When did yeh wan' ter go? We would need ter ask the centaurs permission ter go where he's buried. I think they would agree. What with yer havin' tried ter help Sharem, and us bein' on good terms."

"I'm not sure yet," I admitted. "Before I have to go back home, though. But, not yet. I'm not quite ready."

"While, whenever yeh're ready, I'd be glad to take yer ter say yer goodbyes."

"Thank you, Hagrid," I said, and I truly meant it. Not only for his willingness to take me back but for all that he had none to help us.

Aileen and I stayed for a short while longer at Hagrid's before Hagrid announced he had to go. He was helping Hagrid with something, he said.

As Aileen and I headed back to the castle, I noticed that most of the students were still outside, but it was less bright out as it had been before now. In an hour or two, it was going to be dark out.

"We still have a few hours before dinnertime," Aileen said, "Wanna go explore the castle, or should we stay outside?"

"I think we should go explore that other passageway," I said after a moment of consideration.

"What other passageway?" Aileen asked, confused.

"You remember, the one that we thought was a dead end?"

"You mean, you want to go back to that passageway? The one where we took Sharem?"

I could understand why Aileen sounded surprised. I had avoided anything to do with Sharem ever since our conversation after he died. Whenever Aileen brought him up, I avoided the subject at all costs. Aileen had been back to the room Sharem had stayed in, but I hadn't come with her. I didn't want to be reminded of him. I knew I would break down if I went down to that room, and saw his blanket still lying on the floor, no longer used.

"No," I said, "Not where we took Sharem. We'll be going the opposite way, the way that led to the other dead end. The one we couldn't figure out how to open."

"Oh," Aileen said, understanding dawning on her face. "I forgot all about that. Do you think we'll be able to open it?"

"Well, if it's anything like the other one, all we'll need to do is find the right brick to press down on."

Aileen and I made our way back to the castle, both of us buzzing with anticipation. I wondered where that passageway led to. Today, Aileen and I would find out.

 **I hope you guys this chapter! :) There's only 3 chapters left to go! Though, I MIGHT add a .5 chapter from the Marauders POV somewhere, though I'm not sure what scene I would write from there POV. Maybe the lake scene, or the leaving feast, or something else. I'm just thinking about it.**


	23. First Year, Part 23 (The Other Passagewa

When Aileen and I reached the corridor where the statue that hid the entrance to the passageway was located, we ran into a bit of a problem.

A group of students, second or third years, all stood talking to each other not ten feet away from the statue. There was no way we could open the secret entrance to the passageway without being noticed.

"I suppose we'll just have to wait until they leave," I continued to walk down the corridor. The group had spotted us heading their way, and it would seem strange if we just turned around and went the other way. "We can just pass by them, and then come back in a short while to see if they've gone yet."

"I've got a better idea," Aileen said quietly. "We'll just have to make them leave."

Before I could ask her what she meant, we reached the group of students, Slytherins, I noticed.

One of them, a short boy with blonde hair, turned to stare at me with a look of contempt as we passed by. My first reaction was to look down and avoid his disgusted gaze, but I forced myself to meet his gaze head-on. It's what Aileen would have done if someone was staring at her. She would have stared right back until they looked away uncomfortably. It always seemed to work for Aileen. Not for me, apparently. The boy continued to stare at me, and after only a few seconds, I couldn't take it anymore, looking down at my feet as we passed them.

Just as soon as we had passed by them, one of them spoke from behind us.

"Aileen, why are you walking with her?" It was a girl's voice, "A Gryffindor and a freak, no less."

I turned my head back to the group. They were all focused on us now. The girl who had spoken, a tall brown-haired witch who looked to be in second year, had her hands on her hips and a scowl sprawled across her face.

"I didn't realize it was any of your business who I chose to walk with, Jeslene," Aileen didn't turn around as she spoke. "If it bothers you that much, you can turn your eyes away."

"Of course it's her business," The blond boy who had been staring at me spoke up, "You're giving Slytherins a bad reputation hanging out with the likes of her."

"You don't need me to taint Slytherin's reputation. You guys do a fine job of that all on your own."

"Slytherins aren't friends with Gryffindors," The boy spoke lowly, his jaw clenching. "They're our enemies. You should know this by now."

"Really?" Aileen turned to the group finally, an expression of boredom written on her face. "Then why am I friends with one? It seems to me like you need to get your facts straightened out."

"It seems to me like the sorting hat made a mistake when it placed you in Slytherin," The tall girl shot back. "You don't belong here."

"Aileen, let's go," I said quietly, tugging on her arm. I didn't want this to turn into any fight. They outnumbered us five to two, plus they were older. Aileen didn't budge.

"I think we already had this discussion once before," Aileen replied. "If I my memory is correct, and it usually is, it did not end very well for you, did it? I think I already proved who's the better Slytherin here." With that, Aileen turned her back to the group. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to."

The girl blushed, glaring at Aileen as the others gave her questioning looks. "You just caught me off guard. Try again and see what happens."

"I thought we were friends," The blond boy said.

Aileen stopped, turning around slowly to give him a look that spoke clearly how she felt about that. "Please, Pudge," Aileen laced her words with distaste, "Just because I tolerate you doesn't mean we're friends."

The boy didn't look hurt, just mad. "I'll remember that, Aileen."

"Let's hope you do," Aileen turned again and began to walk away from them. "If you forget, I'll be sure to remind you."

The whole group of Slytherins were looking at us with hatred in their eyes, and it made my heart sink. I hadn't even done anything to them. What could make them look at us that way?

The last thing I wanted to do was turn my back to them. But, I figured if they were going to do anything, they would've already done it by now. There were five of them, so they had nothing to worry about from two first years.

I turned around and quickly caught up with Aileen, who had walked a few paces ahead. I heard them mutter something I couldn't quite catch and then snigger behind our backs. I tried to walk quickly down the corridor, but Aileen wouldn't take the hint to hurry up, instead choosing to walk at a leisurely pace until we reached the end, turning left and out of the group's eyesight.

I let out a sigh of relief, letting go of my wand that I had unknowingly been grasping tightly in my robes. "What was that all about?" I spoke in a low voice, even though I knew we were too far away for them to hear us anymore. "Are all Slytherins like that?"

Aileen snorted. "Ha, I wish that was all most Slytherins were like. Most of them are a lot worse. Sadistic, even. That lot is harmless, really. They're just pureblood snobs. All words and no show. I bet they'll be just as bad as the rest once they get a bit older, though." Aileen didn't seem in the least bit worried about what had just happened as if it was perfectly normal for her.

"So, they're not going to get you later? Ambush you and cast hexes on you or something? They didn't seem that harmless."

"No," Aileen had stopped once we had reached the other corridor and she had pulled out her wand from her robe pockets. She crouched down low on the floor, peeking her head out from behind the wall. "They're too scared to. A bunch of cowards. They know I can handle myself, and they know what happens when they mess with me. They learned that pretty early on. As long as they fear you, you've got nothing to worry about."

"You're a first year," I said. "Why would they fear you?"

"I know a few nasty hexes," Aileen was now pointing her wand at the group down the corridor "And I have a mind for cruel pranks. Let's just say they don't want to be a target of mine. I only prank them if they do something to me first. And I've become quite skilled at it."

"What are you doing?" I ducked down beside Aileen, poking my head out as well.

"Getting rid of them, of course," Aileen gave her wand a whirl and whispered some spell under her breath, her wand pointed at the group of Slytherins, all of which had their backs turned to us.

At first, nothing happened. I was about to point this out to Aileen, and ask her what she was trying to do, when suddenly the group of Slytherins began to jump up and down frantically, a few of them swatting at their clothes and hair. The two girl's let out terrified shrieks and sprinted down the corridor, far away from where they had been standing. The boys were quick to follow, one of them yelling something about grasshoppers. They glanced back once, fear evident on their face, but they didn't seem to notice our heads peaking out up ahead.

"What just happened?" I stared after them in amazement.

"That," Aileen put the wand back in her robe pockets, a satisfied look on her face. "is a fun little hex I learned just last week. I knew it would come in handy."

"But, what was it? Why did they run like that?"

"They thought they were seeing insects crawling out of the walls. I don't know what kind of insects they saw, the book said they would see the types that they most feared."

"Oh," That comment they boy had made about grasshoppers made more sense now.

"Let's go then," Aileen walked back down the now empty corridor, in the direction of the statue. "They could come back. Maybe with a professor."

Reaching the giant statue, Aileen reached up and touched its fingertips lightly. As expected, the statue's leg moved aside, revealing the secret passageway in between.

Aileen and I slipped through, the statue's leg moving back to its position to close the entrance, leaving us in total darkness.

Casting a Wand-Lighting Charm, we made our way along the long narrow passageway with its twists and turns and eerie feeling about it. I still felt paranoid every time we rounded a bend, half expecting something to be waiting just behind it.

Eventually, we came to the spot that split off into two different directions and turned left. Within a few minutes, we were at the dead end we had first stumbled upon all those months ago. It was bringing back memories of Sharem, and how we had come here with him that night. I didn't want to think about it.

"This is it," I said. "Let's start pushing on these bricks. I don't know what we'll do if that doesn't work."

As it happened, it did work. Within a few minutes of pressing on bricks in the wall, Aileen found the right spot. She pushed a section of bricks on the wall that caused the whole wall to crumble away, revealing a little room with a large, round trapdoor on the floor. Besides that, the room was completely empty. It was more like a closet than a room.

"We did it! It worked!" Aileen exclaimed, looking on in amazement.

"I wonder where this leads," I stepped forward, bending down and tugging on the latch to the round door in the floor. "Give me a hand, will you? This door is heavy."

Aileen and I pulled as hard as we could, slowly opening the old door, its hinges creaking loudly in the silence. When we finally got it all the way open, I stumbled back and sat on the floor, panting. The door was heavier than it looked, that was for sure.

Aileen shone her light down in the opening. "It looks like some kind of hole or slide that goes all the way down. I can't see anything but darkness. It's deep, I can tell that much."

"I wonder where it leads," I got up with a groan and stepped beside Aileen, peering down into the darkness. She was right, the slide looked deep.

Aileen reached up and took something from her hair, a pin of some kind. "Let's see how deep it is." She dropped it into the hole.

We stood quiet, barely breathing, listening for a sound that indicated the pin had hit the bottom. I could hear the pin sliding down the tunnel, and we continued to hear it slide down until it was too far away to hear any more. We never heard it hit a bottom.

"Great," I said, "How are we supposed to find out what's down there?"

"Only one way," Aileen took a breath, bracing herself before she jumped into the hole.

"Aileen, no!" I made a desperate grab for her, but it was too late. She slid down with a small gasp and I couldn't see her anymore. "Aileen, are you crazy?" I yelled down, staring after her disappearing form. She didn't answer.

I felt torn between going and getting somebody or following Aileen down. What if this slide led to somewhere dangerous? If I went down there, no one would know where either of us where and we would likely be stuck down there. But, if it led to somewhere dangerous, I couldn't leave Aileen down there by herself while I went and got help. It would take too long. Something could have happened to her by then, and it would be too late to help.

I didn't know what help I could be if there were something dangerous at the end of this slide, but I couldn't leave Aileen to face it by herself. Heaving a sigh, I lowered my legs in and forced myself down the slide.

If I hadn't been so scared of what was at the bottom, of what was ahead of me, I might have found the ride a bit fun. It was like a normal slide, only a lot faster and longer. I felt terrified as I sped down the twisting and tuning slide. It was pitch black, besides the light that came from my wand, and that only allowed light where I was, and not much further ahead. I felt myself being swept through cobwebs, but most of them had already been destroyed by Aileen. The slide was covered in dust.

The ride went on for what seemed forever. It was definitely deep. And at spots, it went completely straight instead of down, and I had to crawl instead of slide down at those spots. Just as I thought the slide would never end, that I would be stuck sliding down at this rapid pace forever, I slid out and landed fell on something soft, bouncing back up a little as I did.

Sitting up, I realized I had landed on some sort of spring mattress. I looked around me, at the small room I was in. I felt a bit dizzy from the ride, and the image was turning a bit as my eyes tried to focus.

Aileen stood a few feet away from me, tugging on another trapdoor in the floor. She, like me, was covered in dust from the slide. She also had cobwebs in her hair.

"Why did you do that?" I couldn't help feeling annoyed. "We could've gotten hurt. You had no idea what was down here."

"Come and help me get this door up," Aileen said, completely ignoring my question.

I gave a huff and swung myself off the large mattress, walking over to Aileen with my arms crossed.

"It's another trapdoor?" I bent down and started to pull on it as Aileen was. The door began to open slowly, but it was so heavy I nearly let go. "Don't go jumping down here if there's another slide."

There was not another slide. Once we got the door open, I saw that it led right to a room that was loaded with crates.

"Let's go," Aileen started to jump down, but I grabbed her arm on time.

"Wait," I pulled her back, "That's a ten-foot drop. How will we be able to get back up here? In fact, how will we be able to get back up that tunnel? What if we're stuck down here? We should start looking for a way out."

"I already found a way out before you came," Aileen pointed to the right, "See that door?"

I looked where she pointed to, finding a small door half-way opened.

"I'm not sure where it leads, but it's a staircase so I assume it must lead back up to the castle."

I let out a breath of relief, "But you can't jump down there. How are we going to get back up?"

Aileen seemed to think about it for a moment, looking down at the small room below.

"We can stack those crates and climb back up," She said after a minute. "Easy." She began to move forward again, but I held her back.

"Wait. Look down there," I gestured to the room below. "It's not dark down there. It's dim, but not completely dark."

Aileen paused. "You're right. That must mean..."

"Someone else could be down there."

"I don't see anyone, though. Come on, we'll be fine."

"Fine," I said, still unsure. Aileen was right, I couldn't see anyone down there either. And if someone was down there, wouldn't they have heard us and came to see? I didn't feel safe going down there, but I knew Aileen was going to go. "But be quiet. Someone made the lights be on down there, whether they're there at the moment or not."

Aileen jumped down first, bending her knees as she landed and making barely a sound. She looked up at me through the hole and motioned for me to come down.

When I jumped and landed, there was a loud thud and a shot of pain traveled up my right leg from landing on the wooden part. I had tried to take all the impact in my left leg, but that was harder said than done. I stumbled, grasping onto my leg as the sharp pain began to fade. I hated it when I landed hard on my wooden leg. It always hurt a lot more than landing on the other one, which could bend and absorb impact.

"Are you alright?" Aileen pulled me to my feet.

"I'm fine," I said, dusting myself off. "I just wasn't ready for the impact. Where do you suppose we are?" I looked around at the small room, stacked nearly completely full of dusty crates and strange looking objects. When I glanced up at the opening I had just jumped through, I was surprised to see it was gone. It just looked like a normal ceiling there. I hoped it was just a disguise, and that we weren't trapped down here or anything.

"I don't know. It looks like some kind of storage closet. Hey, look, there's a door," Aileen pointed to a door behind us. There was a small light hanging over it, casting a very dim glow on the room. "Come on, let's see where it leads."

Before Aileen or I could take a step towards the door though, we heard voices on the other side, footsteps nearing us.

Aileen and I glanced at each other, wide-eyed, and then dove behind a pile of crates just as the door opened.

"I'm tellin' you I heard a sound," It was a man's voice. From where I crouched, between the cracks between the piles of crates, I could see two figures standing in the doorway. One was tall and skinny and the other was a lot smaller looking, hunched over a bit. I couldn't tell which one had spoken.

"Caractacus, your hearing going. I keep telling you. You're becoming an old man, and with old age comes deafness." It was the tall man who spoke.

"It's too dark in here. I told you to get that light fixed. And I'm not that much older than you," The smaller man muttered something and there was suddenly light in the small room. He stood there with a wand, eventually, he had just fixed the dim light. Now, the whole room was lit brightly. So these weren't muggles. They were wizards, at least the one with the wand was.

"You're a full decade older than me," The skinny man said. "Now let's go, old man, Mr. Jacara will be here any minute." The tall man looked annoyed and impatient.

"I heard somethin', and I'm gonna find out what it was." The short man crossed his arms stubbornly.

"If you did hear something, it was probably just rats."

The smaller man ignored him, stepping further into the room and peering around suspiciously. I looked over to Aileen, who had her hand covered over her mouth, her eyes shut tightly.

The man was nearing us, poking his head around the piles and piles of crates. I was ready to run out the door they had come through if he saw us when a jingling bell sounded not far away. The short man was not five feet away from us. Aileen and I had moved slowly to the other side of the crates as he neared. He stopped when the bell sounded.

"That's him," The skinny man still stood at the doorway, a look of impatience on his face. "Now let's go."

The pair quickly made their way out, the smaller grumbling and giving the room one final sweep with his eyes before he let the door close behind him. There was the sound of muffled voices from behind the door and fading footsteps.

"Aileen," I whispered, my heart still beating, "We should probably get out of here, wherever here is before they come back. Who do you think they were?"

"I think I know where we are," Aileen whispered, standing up and heading towards the door that the men had just exited not a minute ago.

"Aileen, what are you doing? Let's go." I glanced between Aileen and the spot on the ceiling where I knew the trapdoor that led back up was located.

"I recognized the one man," Aileen replied, "His name is Caractacus Burke. Alexa, I think we're in Borgin and Burkes."

"What's Borgin and Burkes?" I stepped toward Aileen, about to pull her away from the door that she was now in front of. "Aileen, what are you doing? Let's get out of here."

"Just a minute," Aileen said, "I want to see if we really are in Borgin and Burkes." Aileen placed her hand on the doorknob, and slowly began to turn it.

My eyes grew wide, and I shook my head at Aileen. What was she thinking? The men could be right outside this door.

Aileen cracked the door open and peered out. I only got a small glimpse before Aileen shut the door again quickly. What I saw made my heart stop for a second.  
There were human skulls on shelves, along with human bones and weirdly shaped bones. I saw eyeballs in glass cases, realistic bloody masks, a cat's foot, a whole bunch of strange antique-looking stuff, and something that looked like a miniature head hanging on a door, it's eyeballs missing.  
I spotted three men standing a short distance away from the door. The two who had just come been in the little room, and a different man.  
The other man wore a grey trench coat, his hair greying at the sides. He looked to be in his forties or so and was holding onto an antique music box, gesturing to something on it while the other two men nodded eagerly. Luckily, the two men had their backs turned to us. The man in the grey trench coat was facing us but hadn't seen us because he had been looking down at the box in his hands. Something about the man looked slightly familiar to me, though I had never seen him before in my life.

"Yes," Aileen whispered once the door was shut firmly. "We are definitely in Borgin and Burkes."

"What are Borgin and Burkes?" I asked again.

"It a wizarding shop in Knockturn Alley," Aileen said, stepping away from the door and over towards the crates.

I could still hear the muffled voices from the other side.

"Knockturn Alley?" I had heard of the place but had never been in it before. "Isn't that a side street by Diagon Alley? I heard the shops there were all about dark arts."

"Yes," Aileen said.

"That means..."

"That passageway lead out of Hogwarts. We're not supposed to be here."

"None of the other passageways have led out of Hogwarts," I whispered in shock. "Are you sure we're in Knockturn Alley?"

"I'm sure we're in Borgin and Burkes. It's not a place you can forget once you've been inside."

What does this shop sell?" I heard the sound of laughter, more like cackling, on the other side of the door.

"It sells dark artifacts," Aileen whispered, "Nothing either of us would want. But, we could always use that passageway to sneak into Diagon Alley, if the need ever arose. But, we would have to pass through Knockturn Alley to get there. It's a bit creepy, but if we ever need to get to Diagon Alley for anything, this is the way."

"Great," I said, "Now let's get out of here before they come back. I knew we shouldn't have come down here. What if the door in the ceiling has vanished?"

"I'm sure it's still there. Come on, let's stack these crates before they come back."

Aileen and I started dragging one box under the ceiling where we knew the trapdoor should be located. The crates weren't as heavy as I expected, at least the first one wasn't.

"But we'll need to knock the crates down once we get up there. We don't want those two men seeing these crates and finding this passageway."

"But they'll hear us if we knock them down."

"So?" Aileen and I picked up another crate and placed it on top of the other one. "We'll be gone. They'll never know it was us. They'll probably think it was an animal or something."

Once the crates were stacked high enough that we could climb up and reach the top, Aileen climbed up and pushed hard on the ceiling. For an awful moment, I thought the ceiling wouldn't open and we would be stuck here. But Aileen managed to get it open, after a minute of pushing hard. The door made a creaking sound as it opened, and I glanced frantically at the door. The nose from the men had stopped.

Aileen pushed herself up, motioning for me to hurry. I had a bit more trouble climbing the boxes with my wooden leg, but I still managed. The voices had started back up outside the door, but they seemed quieter. What if one of the men was coming to check the room?

Aileen grabbed my arm and helped me up once I reached the top. She then kicked hard at the crates, cause them to all tumble down with a loud banging sound. We quickly closed the trapdoor. If the men had come to see what the noise was, we didn't hear them. The trapdoor was thick enough that it was completely sound-proof.

"I can't believe that just happened," I placed a hand on my heart, that felt like it was about to pound out of my chest.

"I can't believe we just discovered a passageway that led out of Hogwarts," Aileen said.

We walked over to the door Aileen had pointed out earlier and opened it, revealing the long staircase that led up.

"I hope these stairs lead back," I began to walk up the stairs. "I really don't want to be stuck down here."

We walked up the stairs for what seemed like hours before we finally reached the top, which led into a dark passageway with brick walls.

"Oh no," I said, looking around. "This isn't where we started. This isn't even the same passageway."

"Relax," Aileen said. "It probably leads back inside the castle nonetheless. Of course it's not going to lead back to the one we came from, otherwise, we would have seen these stairs in the beginning."

Aileen was right. We followed the passageway only a short way before we came to the end, which indeed led us back into the castle through a portrait that hung in the corridor. The hallway was empty when we stepped out, closing the entrance quietly.

"How long do you think we were gone?" I asked. "It felt like at least three hours."

"I don't know, but I'm starving. Do you think it's dinnertime yet?"

"Probably," we walked down the corridor in the direction of the great hall. "Those stairs went on forever. I can barely feel my legs anymore. I think I liked the slide a lot more."

We made our way to the Great Hall, finding that it was indeed dinnertime. Aileen went to go sit over at the Slytherin table and I went to sit at the Gryffindor table.

Frank was nowhere in sight, so I took a seat at the far end, away from all the other Gryffindors who eyed me as I passed them. I noticed that there weren't as many students as usual eating, meaning it was probably near the end of dinnertime.

Once I was done eating, I got up and headed out, waving goodbye to Aileen as I did.

I headed straight for the Fat Lady's portrait, muttering the password, and stumbling through the hole that led into the Gryffindor common room.

Frank was sitting with one of his friends, playing a game of Wizard's Chess, so I didn't bother to go talk with him. I wanted to tell him about the passageway, though. I knew Frank would love to hear the story of how Aileen and I nearly got caught by the shop owners. How we had found a way into Knockturn Alley through Hogwarts. I wondered how many people knew about that passageway. I wondered if Dumbledore himself knew. Probably, I thought.

 **Okay, I JUST made it! I nearly couldn't post this chapter because I missed a day for writing. I hoped you all liked it! I didn't have barely any time to edit it or anything.**

 **There are only two more chapters left before this book is finished! I feel like the picture for this chapter kind of gave where the passage led to away...**

 **I know I have a LOT to learn when it comes to writing, but can you guys help me out a little? I want to know what my strengths and weaknesses are, so to speak, in writing. So, PLEASE, can you go real quick and answer the two questions?**

 **What is my greatest weakness when it comes to writing? (Dialogue,** description , **characters, etc..)**

 **What is my greatest strength when it comes to writing? (Dialogue,** description , **characters, etc..)**

Basically **what do I need to work on with my writing skills?**

 **I would love to know what you guys think I need the most work on when it comes to writing, and what you like best about my writing. That way you'll help me decide which element of writing I should work on and try to improve more.**

 **Thank you SO much to all of you who answered the POV question! :D It means the a lot to me!**


	24. First Year, Part 24 (The Final Exams)

The last week of May was spent studying frantically for Final exams.

I had daily studying sessions with Aileen and then Frank. Frank had been worried he wouldn't pass Charms, so I had helped him practice daily, teaching him any of the charms he hadn't quite grasped yet. In exchange, he helped me with Defence Against the Dark arts. He was rather good at it, both the teaching part and the actual subject.

Aileen and I quizzed each other daily on every subject, practicing the wand movements and incarnations to difficult spells we had been taught until we had mastered them.

When the first week of June had arrived, I had developed a case of pre-exam jitters. Aileen had been a bit nervous, but fairly confident she would pass each exam with acceptable grades, besides History of Magic she had told me. Frank had worried he wouldn't be able to pass Charms, Potions, or History of Magic. I had been worried I'd fail them all, not because I didn't know what the professors had taught us all year, but because my anxiety and nervousness would make me forget the answers to any questions they asked while we were being tested.

It turned out that I had been worrying for nothing.

I had thought the final exams would be filled with hundreds of questions on every single thing we had learned that year in each class as if we were expected to remember everything. But, it turned out they were a lot easier than I expected.

Each day we completed one examination for one or two subjects. The exams didn't last any longer than an hour.

In Charms, Professor Flitwick had us each enter his classroom, one by one, and make a piece of chocolate cake that sat on a plate get up and float over to him. I performed the charm with ease and had waited for the next task, but there was none. That had been it.

Professor McGonagall had us each turn a furry rat into a small bowl in transfiguration. Frank seemed to have a bit of trouble at first, but then he managed it, even if the bowl was somewhat furry looking in the end.

Professor Slughorn had us brew the cure for boils in Potions. Snape had been the first one to complete his potion, followed by Lily Evans. I had been close behind. Remus Lupin, who looked as if he had lost a great deal of sleep the following week, probably due to the fact that he had been one of the students who had studied from early morning until late at night all week prior to the Final Exams, had done something wrong to his potion, causing it to overflow out of the cauldron. It had been pink, the color it was supposed to be, so perhaps he had just made too much. Either way, Professor Slughorn only tsked at him and wrote something on a clipboard.

In astronomy, we had found and listed the names of 5 stars and 3 planets. Aileen had been the first student to complete this. It took me a while, but I was able to complete the task.

We all had to perform a knockback jinx in Defence against the Dark arts. I didn't know how good mine had been through, as it hadn't knocked my target back very far. Frank's and Aileen's jinxes had definitely been strong, sending each of their targets quite far away from them.

In Herbology, we had to write a whole page on the magical properties and uses of wormwood, each of us having to use the new quills we had received for the exams, which were bewitched with Anti-Cheating spells. I had gotten carried away and written over a whole page. I could have written more, but the exam had been timed and we had all had to set our quills down when the time was up.

In Flying, we each had to fly around the Quidditch pitch once, come back down and hover five feet over the ground before finally landing smoothly on the ground. Madam Hooch watched on, taking notes on a clipboard as one by one the students flew around the pitch. Quite a few of the students had had a bit of trouble with this, especially me, but it looked as if most of them had managed in the end. James Potter had not only flown around the Quidditch pitch, but he had also shown off by performing a few intricate flying moves we hadn't even been taught.

The last and most boring exam we had taken had been History of Magic. Professor Binns had made us spend a whole entire hour writing the historical events of Emeric the Evil and Elfric the Eager, again having to use the special quills we had each received for the final exams. I think I got the dates and events mixed up on those two, and I hadn't been able to remember which one was the wizard and which one was the Goblin, so I had to hazard a guess. When the exam was over, all the students practically jumped out of their seats in, glad the final exams were finally over.

Then we all had to wait a week for the final exam results to come out. The teachers spent this week preparing all the grades and marking all the exams.

The whole school seemed much more relaxed when the final exams were finally over. But some of the students seemed more worried than ever, fearing that they would fail.

It was the day before the final exam results were to come out that Aileen and I went to Hagrid's Hut, ready to go back into the Forbidden forest and to the underground forest.

Hagrid had already talked with the Centaurs, and they knew we were coming to say our goodbyes to Sharem. They weren't going to interfere with us, but they would be nearby.

Hagrid had told Professor Dumbledore that he would be taking a few students into the Forbidden forest sometime this week to show us around.

I didn't know if I was ready for this, but it was the only chance I would get in a long time to go to Sharem's grave and say goodbye.

In just a little over a week, we would be leaving. All of us going back home.

"Will you be happy to go back home?" I asked as we made our way across the lawn down to Hagrid's small hut.

In the distance, I could see the big man sitting in front of his hut, the black pup, Fang, running around in circles beside him trying to catch something in the air.

"I will be happy to see my sister again," Aileen said, "But I don't really look forward to going back. What about you?"

"Not really," I waved to Hagrid as we neared. He spotted us, getting up from where he sat. "I've told you about how my Aunt is like, and besides her, there's nobody else back home."

In truth, I dreaded the thought of going back. I had come to love Hogwarts in the time that I had been here. Maybe not all the students, but I could deal with them if it meant getting to be close to Frank and Aileen and Hogwarts itself. I didn't want to think about only having Aunt Cora for company for the whole entire summer, or what I would do to occupy myself in that time. I had become so accustomed to spending my days with Aileen and Frank or studying. I was hoping Aileen and Frank would come to visit sometime, but I didn't know how Aunt Cora would feel about that.

"Yeh ready?" Hagrid asked as we reached him.

"Yes," It was a lie. I wasn't ready for this. I wasn't ready to go back to where I had last seen Sharem. Where he had been killed.

Hagrid slung a bag over his shoulder and started to lead the way, talking to Aileen about something or another. I was too distracted to take part in the conversation.

Aileen and I followed close behind him. I remained quiet for the rest of the way there. Aileen and Hagrid spoke occasionally, but for the most part, we all walked in silence.

Along the way, we passed a patch of wildflowers, yellow and blue ones. I stopped to pick some, knowing that people sometimes put flowers on graves. I didn't know why, and I didn't think Sharem would have liked flowers, but I picked them anyway. Hagrid and Aileen waited patiently while I gathered them. In part, I was picking them to stall. To give my self a little more time to prepare.

We continued on, Hagrid leading the way until we reached the tree that led down to the underground forest. Hagrid went down first, helping both of us as we went after him. A flood of memories hit me when I hit the ground, looking around. I remembered the night we had first been here. The night we'd found Sharem tied to that tree.

I didn't know where we were going, but I tried to remember the route, in case I ever found myself back here without Hagrid to guided me. He led us to a field, and then to a part of the forest where the trees didn't have any leaves. It was here that Hagrid stopped, and pointed to something a distance away.

"That's it," Hagrid spoke quietly.

"We'll stay back here while you go," Aileen said.

"Okay," I was glad they weren't coming with me. I didn't want them to see me cry.

I walked slowly to the spot Hagrid had pointed to. As I neared it, I noticed quite a few gravestones protruding from the ground. I scanned the names, realizing these must be Sharem's family members buried here. I searched the small group of gravestones until my eyes landed on the one that had Sharem's name engraved on it. I felt my heart stop for a moment seeing it, and I just stared at it for a few minutes before finally walking up to it slowly.

I looked back, seeing Hagrid and Aileen in the distance, close enough to see me but not close enough to hear me.

When I reached the gravestone, I sunk to my knees. I just sat there for a while, before finally speaking allowed.

"Sharem," My voice cracked, and I had to stop to clear my throat, blinking back tears. "I don't know if you can hear me, wherever you are, but I want you to know I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't save you in time. I'm sorry we brought you back there. We should have made you stay. We should have protected you." I was quiet for a moment before I continued. "I'm sorry we didn't have more time. I didn't know you for very long, but I know that you were a good person. While, centaur, anyway. I know that I liked you and that you and I would have been good friends if you hadn't been taken away. You were smart and brave and loyal. You were willing to sacrifice yourself for those you loved. I'm sorry we didn't have more time."

As I continued to speak, it felt as if I was really talking to Sharem, face to face, only I couldn't see him. I wondered if he really was here with me somehow.

I told him everything that had happened since I last saw him. How I had discovered my eye had more abilities than I thought. How I would one day use my eye to help people, people like Sharem that was innocent and good. If I could, I would make sure no one innocent ever died at the hands of evil people again.

I told him about the books we had found in the restricted section of the library. I told him how the Gryffindor boys had thrown me in the lake. I told him about the dog Hagrid had found and about the secret passageway we had discovered led to Borgin and Burkes. I told him how I would be leaving in a week, and I told him about Aunt Cora.

I don't know how long I just knelt there, talking out loud, but when I was done, the sky had darkened to a light grey color. Aileen and Hagrid sat a distance off, patiently waiting for me.

I finally stood up, placing the flowers on the ground beside the gravestone. It felt as if a weight had been lifted off my chest.

"Goodbye Sharem. I wish you were still here with us."

When I walked back over to Hagrid and Aileen, I felt lighter. Happier. I hadn't even cried while I said goodbye to Sharem. Not really. I had felt a sense of content while speaking to him.

When I reached Hagrid and Aileen, they looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to say something. When I didn't, Aileen said that she would be right back. She walked over to where I had just come from, and Hagrid and I waited for her. I wondered if she was saying one last final goodbye.

It was only a few minutes before she came back and we all walked back in silence.

Although I had thought visiting Sharem's gravesite would make me feel sad, make me cry in devastation, I was wrong. It had made me feel sad, but in the end, I had felt content. It was a bittersweet feeling. I only wished I had come earlier.

When we finally reached the castle, the sky had just gotten completely dark out, a few stars shining up above. I knew it must be around dinnertime, but I didn't really feel hungry. I decided I would skip dinner and head straight to bed. We had walked a long distance and I felt tired.

Before heading inside, I thanked Hagrid once again for bringing us to say goodbye to Sharem.

The following day, the Final Exam Results came in.

Aileen, Frank, and I all passed with quite good marks. I didn't get that great a grade for History of Magic or Flying, and I only just managed to pass Defense Against the Dark Arts, but my good grades in all the other subjects made up for it.

I was the top student in Charms, and Frank had been pretty high up there on Defence against the Dark Arts. So had Aileen been.

Lily Evans and Remus Lupin had gotten the highest grades of all the First Year students, and I had noticed Lily giving Potter a gloating look, even though he was very close behind her in the grade scores.

There was one week left before The Leaving Feast. One week left before I had to go home.

 **Only one chapter left!**

 **As usual, I hope you all have enjoyed this chapter! :) It was quite a shorter chapter than it's been being.**

 **P.S. I am not good at writing emotional scenes, nor do I like to! So I tried to make the one in this chapter as short as possible, lol.**


	25. First Year, Part 25 (The Leaving Feast)

"I'll miss spending time with my friends of course, but I'm eager to be going home and spending time with Mum and Dad." Frank was saying as we made our way down to the Great Hall. "What about you? Are you happy to be going back home?" He opened the doors to the great hall and we entered.

Today was the last day I would be spending at Hogwarts for quite a while. I had spent the whole day with Frank and Aileen, dreading the moment when we would all have to separate and go home. I wished we didn't all have to go back home for the summer holidays. It would be over two months before we got to come back to Hogwarts. Two months I would have to spend with Aunt Cora.

"Not at all," I answered as we made our way over to the crowded Gryffindor table. "I'll have to spend two whole months with only Aunt Cora for company."

"Right," he sat down and started piling his plate full of the food that had only just appeared on the long table. "You're aloof aunt. I forgot about her. You can always come and stay at my house. Mum and Dad said it would be okay if you came and stayed for a while."

There was only one problem with that idea; Frank had also invited a lot of his other friends to come stay for the summer. I knew none of them would want me there, and I'm not so sure Frank's parents would want me there either after they saw me.

"That was nice of them," I said, "But wouldn't it be better if you came and stayed at my house? It's practically a mansion, so there's plenty of room. "

"I can't. Mum and Dad won't let me go stay at any of my friend's houses this summer. They said they wanted to spend as much time with me as they could before another school year started. They said I could invite some friends over instead of going and staying with them."

"Oh," I said. "While, if I don't come stay at your house, we can write to each other all summer, right?"

"Of course," Frank smiled. "I can send you some of Mum's cooking. She makes the best brownies you ever tasted."

Dumbledore arrived just then and the chatter of all the students slowly died down. The few students who had started eating already put down their food as Dumbledore spoke.

"Another year has gone by," Dumbledore said. "I hope you all have enjoyed your time spent here at Hogwarts, and that you all will be going home today with more knowledge than when you arrived. As well as some fond memories than when you first arrived. Now, if my memory serves me correctly, the house cup needs awarding."

The students start murmuring excitedly to themselves at this and then quiet down as Dumbledore continued.

"In fourth place is Hufflepuff, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twenty-three; in second place, Slytherin, with four hundred and two, and in first place, Ravenclaw, with a total of four hundred and thirty points."

Loud sounds of cheering and whooping arose from the Ravenclaw table while the other students half-heatedly applauded.

"Well done, well done," Dumbledore called over the loud cheering. "Congratulations to Ravenclaw on winning this year's house cup, a great honor indeed." He clapped his hands and suddenly blue and bronze banners with Ravenclaw's house crest inscribed on each of them hung all over the Great Hall. There was another round of applauding.

"Now, with that out of the way, let's feast!" Dumbledore exclaimed.

There was more cheering and the children all began to dig in.

James Potter loudly declared that next year he would be a chaser on the Quidditch team and that they would most certainly win the game with him on the team, making Gryffindor win next year's house cup for sure.

Lily then mentioned that their chances of winning the house cup would have been much greater if it weren't for Potter and his group always getting hard-earned points taken away from them with their misbehavior. The two had proceeded to get into an argument over this.

The feast went by so fast and before I knew it it was over and it was time to leave.

When Lily, I and the other girls went up to our dorm after the feast we found our wardrobes empty and our belongings all packed neatly in our trunks and ready to go.

As all the students piled out of the castle and over to Hagrid, who was there to take us down to the boats that sailed across the lake, we were all handed notes, warning us against using magic over the holidays.

"How will they know if we use magic?" I tucked the note in my pocket as Aileen and I got onto the boat.

"We're all underage, so we all have the Trace on us," Aileen answered.

"Right, I remember learning about that in Charms." The Trace was a charm that let the Ministry know the area in which any magic was used, and therefore knowing if there were any underage wizards or witches in that vicinity. The Trace could only detect magic in an area around underaged wizards and witches, but it couldn't detect the actual caster.

"You're lucky," Aileen said. "You'll be able to sneak and use magic and they won't know it's you because you live with your aunt. There's no adult witches or wizards around where I live."

"Your parents are muggle then?" I didn't know much about Aileen's parents. She never talked about them at all. The only person she ever spoke about back home was her sister, and she didn't speak much about her either.

"No, they're not," Aileen looked uncomfortable. "I just, I mean - nevermind."

I wondered if she was ashamed of having muggle parents like some were, but I dropped the subject. I, of course, didn't care what her parents were, but if Aileen didn't want anyone knowing that her parents were muggle if they were, I wasn't about to pry it out of her.

"You can come stay over at my Aunt Cora's house," I said. "I'm going to have nothing to do all summer and there are no other children around where I live. I'm going to be bored to death." Even if there were any other kids, they wouldn't be friends with me. Especially if they were muggle children. They looked at me even worse than witches and wizards did, and that was saying something.

"I'll try," Aileen agreed. "Maybe I can get them to let my sister come to. I don't want to leave her there by herself. Do you have a backyard for flying? I would want to bring my broom to practice."

"Yes, it's huge. We live way out in the country, away from any muggles. But do you think your sister would want to come stay?" I gestured to my leg and eye. "Don't you think she'd be scared or freaked out?"

"No," Aileen shook her head. "She's one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. We're complete opposites, you know. But we still get along really well. We could all go exploring or something. I've only ever seen the countryside passing by. I live in a crowded area and there's no empty space for miles."

Aileen and I talked about what we planned on doing this summer the whole boat ride there, and before we knew it we were boarding the Hogwarts express, still talking excitedly about our summer plans. The train was so loud with talking and laughing students I could barely hear when Aileen spoke to me.

We ended up sitting with Frank and his friend, Mathew on the trip home. Although I managed to convince Aileen to sit with us, she didn't speak to the two Gryffindor boys the whole way there, only choosing to speak to me. They didn't say more than two words to her either, but somehow it was still okay. I was just happy to be able to be in the same compartment as my two best friends, even if they didn't get along.

I found myself talking and laughing with all of them, even Mathew, as the countryside came into view out the windows and then we were speeding past muggle towns. The trolly lady came in at some point and we all got chocolate frogs, jelly slugs and Bertie Bott's every flavor beans.

In no time at all, we had reached platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station and we were all getting off, pulling off our robes as we went.

It took forever to get off the platform with the number of people there was.

We all had to get off the platform in small groups, a guard by a ticket barrier letting us go through the gate group by group so we wouldn't attract too much attention and alarm the muggles on the other side by all of us bursting out of a solid brick wall at once.

People jostled us as we moved towards the gateway and through the wall, back to the muggle world. Aileen, Frank, Mathew and I all passed through the gateway together.

"Franky!" Somebody exclaimed as soon as we were out.

I turned to see a short, rather plump women with rosy cheeks and blond curly hair rushing over towards us, her arms wide open. She enveloped Frank in a hug and started planting kisses all over his cheeks.

A moment later a short man with balding temples walked up to the two and joined in on the hug. I assumed these must be Franks parents.

As they ushered him away he managed to squirm out of their grasps long enough to wave at me and yell out a goodbye, promising he would write as soon as he got a chance. He seemed a bit embarrassed as his parents continued to hug and kiss him.

I glanced around the train station and spotted Aunt Corra in the crowd, looking impatient as she spotted me and motioned for me to hurry up, tapping her watch impatiently.

I turned back to Aileen. "Write to me and let me know as soon as you figure out if you can come and stay or not, alright?"

"Okay," Aileen agreed. "You have the book right?"

"Yeah," I nodded. She was talking about The Windows To The Soul. The book I was supposed to use to help me with my eye over the summer holidays. "I'll start practicing that as soon as getting unpacked. I won't have much else to do."

"Aileen!" Somebody called out in the crowd. I glanced around and spotted an old lady waving at Aileen from a distance away. She seemed far too old to be Aileen's mother. Perhaps she was her grandma.

"I've got to go," Aileen said, starting to walk over towards the lady. "Bye!" She called out, waving as she went.

I waved and watched her disappear into the crowd.

I turned and started to make my way over to Aunt Cora, who was looking thoroughly annoyed by now.

As I walked slowly, dragging my trunk behind me, I watched all the other children meet with their parents. They all seemed so happy to see each other, hugging and laughing. I wondered how different things would be if my parents were still here. It would be them I was meeting at the train station today, not Aunt Cora. How different things would be for me if that night five years ago hadn't happened.

It was times like this that made me miss my parents terribly. I wondered if I would ever stop missing them. I didn't think so. It had been three years, and there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't miss them.

I saw James Potter with his parents, who looked a bit old to be his parents, all of them talking excitedly. I spotted a few of the girls I shared my dorm with as well. All of them seemed happy. I saw Sirius black with his parents, while, his mother anyway. I didn't see his father anywhere. He was one of the few children who didn't seem excited to be going home. I guess it was something we had in common. Who would have thought. We locked eyes for a brief moment as his mother grabbed his wrist tightly and pulled him along like he was a small child.

He looked defensive for a second as I watched him go and then glared at me, scowling slightly. I turned away and quickly walked to where Aunt Cora was stood.

"It's about time," she said. "Let's go."

As I followed Aunt Cora, I felt unhappy to be leaving and found myself wishing for the start of the second term already. I was even missing all the other children already, despite the fact that I didn't know them and they didn't know me. I was dreading going back to that quiet and lonely place I called home. Back where there were no other children. Just a big empty house and miles upon miles of countryside.

But who knew? Maybe I was feeling glum over nothing. Maybe I would actually enjoy this summer. Afterall, I had made two very good friends this year, and somehow I would find a way to spend time with both of them this summer. Even if they couldn't come and stay with me, I would find a way to see them.

I would make this summer holiday be a happy one. It didn't matter that my aunt didn't like me and that everyone else thought I was a deformed freak. It didn't matter that my parents were gone forever and I was alone. It didn't matter that I was one of the few children who didn't have loving families to go home to this summer. It didn't matter we were away from Hogwarts and all that it offered.

Because so long as I had Frank and Aileen as friends, I could forget all the bad in my life and focus on the truly good parts.

None of that stuff mattered to me anymore. At least that's what I kept telling myself as I left the train station with Aunt Cora and headed home, where nothing but an empty, lonely room awaited me.

 **THE END.**

 _ **Finally! It's all finished.**_

 _ **Some people find beginnings hard, but I find endings are a lot harder. The ending was hard to write, and it gave me a bit of writer's block for a while there.**_

 _ **SO, WHAT'S NEXT?**_

 _ **While I'm going to immediately start working on BOOK 2. As some of you know, I'm going to plot book two before I write it. So, it will be quite a while before I start posting chapters for book two. Months, actually.**_

 _ **I plan to not only plot the whole book but also write a bit of it first before actually posting any of it.**_

 _ **NOTE: If I were you, I would follow me on Quotev so that you get notified when I post the first chapters of book two. Otherwise, you might never know when I start posting again, as it'll be quite a while and you'll probably forget all about me.**_

 _ **Somehow I'm going to make it so you don't have to read book one to read book two, maybe give a "Previously on..." or something. Because I feel like book two will be a lot better than book one because I would've had so much more practice by then.**_

 _ **I'm also going to include a lot more of The Marauders in book two. I meant this book to have a lot of them, but somehow it turned into a book about Alexa instead of them. The next book will definitely feature more of them.**_

 _ **Also, it would really help me with book 2 if you guys could either comment and tell me what aspects you disliked about this book (so that I could make book two be better.) and if you took this survey I made here on Quotev (What Writing Elements Do I Need to Work on?) so that I could improve my writing skills and therefore make book 2 be better.**_

 _ **Thank you all so much for sticking with this story until the very end! :) You've really helped, encouraged, and motivated me to continue writing and become a better writer through the whole time it took me to write this book. Can you believe it took me a whole year to write this! Wow. If it weren't for you guys though I think I would've given up, so thank you so much!**_


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